Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Mason Hunter watched his three-point shot disappear into the bucket 52 times in 24 games with UAlberta-Augustana last season in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.
After averaging 16.4 points per game with the Vikings, he was named to the ACAC All-Conference team.
At the time, Mike Connolly was coaching on the opposing sideline with the NAIT Ooks and had a front row seat to see a guy who could really light it up. So, when he was hired by the MacEwan Griffins last March, among his first recruits? Mason Hunter.
"I thought he could score," said Connolly when watching him last season. "He could shoot it. I thought he was mature. I knew he'd be a kid who would come in and raise himself to the next level. I just saw those intangibles that that's what we wanted to start building around here with."
Among those is exceptional student. Hunter is exactly that; the ACAC Academic All Canadian brings his hard work to the classroom in MacEwan's Commerce department.
"He brings talent and academics and that's what we want," said Connolly. "We want guys who can be here for a while, who can grow, get their degrees and become good citizens."
Hunter will lead the Griffins (0-12) into Thursday night action against cross-town rival Alberta (11-1) at 8 p.m. (David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op). The teams will also meet on Saturday (7 p.m., Saville Centre).
As he continues to get acclimated to the level, the learning curve has been in effect for Hunter. So far, he's dropped 19 threes in the first 12 games of the season (tops on the Griffins), but his percentage from beyond the arc has fallen from 41.3 in the ACAC to 28.8 in Canada West.
"He's a pretty good player," said Connolly. "We haven't seen it yet, but we will. He can shoot the ball and when he gets going, I've seen him score 39 a couple of times.
"He's just trying to figure it all out. He's having a complete game, he's learning to play defence and pass the ball. Once he gets his feet going and can shoot it, he'll do some special things."
Hunter has always worked on his shot, really because of necessity.
"I was a pretty small kid in high school," he said of playing the game at Ardrossan. "I grew pretty late, so I depended on shooting early on. That's why I worked a lot more on my shot because it was one of those things that really helped me in my game. I wasn't the tallest guy, couldn't go inside, so I just focused on shooting."
Basketball itself was a sport he gravitated to later in his upbringing. Hockey was No. 1 for many years, allowing Hunter to progress to the Midget AA level with some AAA games sprinkled in.
"I started playing high school basketball and got a little more interested in that," he explained. "That's kind of how hockey faded, and basketball came to the forefront."
The Griffins have certainly benefitted and will continue to benefit from that decision as Hunter grows into the player he's capable of being at the Canada West level.
"It's just the physicality and the quickness, but he's improving every day," said Connolly. "It started from the beginning of the year. His defence has improved 100 per cent. His overall knowledge of the game is pretty good. He sees the floor, he knows when to shoot it, he knows when not to.
"I just think he's really working on being able to play at the physical level and his pace. His defence is still improving and it will still improve."
The Griffins are improving as a team every day, but that first win of the season has eluded them to this point. They face a tough task to accomplish that against the one-loss Bears, but it's why they play the games. Any match against Alberta is always highly anticipated.
"I think the guys know the players and it's just a natural rivalry, and they'll be pumped up and raised for the situation," said Connolly. "For me, we know what we need to do. It's just another game. We need to continue to improve. We need to work on our fundamentals.
"This will be a good weekend to see if we can (improve upon) our turnovers because that's one thing we've worked on all week," he added. "We'll see what happens. Now, I do think the Bears are probably the best defensive team in the conference, so having a lofty goal like that this weekend might be (ambitious). But I think we can cut those down, work hard and compete. Whenever you do that, good things can happen."
