Mazur, Mace making things happen for Mainland boys basketball

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
Mainland Regional boys basketball coach Dan Williams knew what he had with guys like Angelo Barron, Jake Cook, Tommy Zanaras and Joe Massari heading into this season, but other than that the rest of the roster was a mystery in terms of what those players could produce on the varsity level. The veteran Mustangs skipper said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the play of a pair of junior guards who have helped solidify the starting lineup and bench play.
With Massari running the point, Williams needed another guard who could handle the ball and help distribute the ball down low to the big guys. In Luke Mazur and JaQuan Mace, he sort of has two players in one, in the sense that often they sub in for each other and their skills are very similar. Both can handle the ball and both can distribute and play defense, and Mazur has also shown the ability to be a threat from three-point range.

In a recent win over Egg Harbor Township, Mazur nailed a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 18 points to help the Mustangs to a 71-55 win over the Eagles, who are one of the better teams in the Cape-Atlantic League’s American Conference, which houses the bigger public schools as well as St. Augustine Prep. Mazur has also had some other solid games, scoring 17 points in a loss to Eastern and 12 points against both Millville and Ocean City. Mace usually scores anywhere from about five-to-eight points in any given game, but he’s not asked to score a lot. His role when he is on the floor is to play aggressive defense and help get Mainland’s transition offense going with steals.
Williams said Mazur has really matured in the past year or so and feels confident he can handle any situation that presents itself in varsity games.
“On the varsity level, he had virtually no playing time (last year), and he’s really matured a lot. I don’t know at this time last year he would have handled coming off the bench, knowing that he’s every bit as good as the first five guys,” Williams said. “This year, he’s been great with it, has a great attitude and he and JaQuan — who is the guy who he usually subs in for — have a great rapport, they pick each other up in practice every day. JaQuan is one of our best defenders, if not our best defender, he just didn’t have it on the offensive end (against EHT), but he was as happy as anybody in the locker room after the game.”
Mazur and Mace are former middle school rivals, as Mazur attended Belhaven in Linwood while Mace went to Jordan Road School in Somers Point. They never thought they would end up being great friends just a few years later at Mainland.

“We used to go at it in middle school, and once we got to high school we joined forces on the freshman team, and we became really good friends. We hang out outside of school, and now we’re in the big leagues on varsity, subbing in for each other, and at one point we were both starting when Joe Massari was hurt. We just have that chemistry where we can set each other up, or set up Tommy on the wing or Jake on the wing, or Angelo down low,” Mazur said. “I went to Belhaven in Linwood and he went to Jordan Road School in Somers Point, so we would play against each other twice a year, play in big-time tournaments, championship games, and we just brought that to high school and are putting it on the floor here now. I never thought it would happen when were guarding each other in middle school, that we would become really good friends in high school, on the court together, side-by-side and controlling things together.”
The win over EHT put Mainland at 8-4 overall and as of Wednesday night the Mustangs were 3-1 in the CAL National, tied for second place with rival Ocean City and just a game behind conference-leading Lower Cape May. There is plenty of basketball left this season and everything is right there in front of the Mustangs, and Mazur and Mace are working hard to make sure Mainland is playing meaningful games in late February.
“That win (over EHT) pushed us to 8-4 and gave us a lot of power points because they area Group 4 team that has some good wins,” Mazur said. “We just have to keep pushing. We have about six straight home games, which is great, our fans our great and we’ll just keep feeding off them and hopefully put a good product on the court.”
“I felt like we just had to play aggressively and stay mentally focused. I felt like we had to take the lead and keep it. I was just trying to stay aggressive and help the team out, create steals and get offense quickly,” Mace said after the EHT game. “We have great energy when either one of us is coming off the bench. I just tell (Luke) to do his thing. He works his tail off in practice, so if he just keeps doing his thing and keeps his head up, he’ll be fine. We just need teamwork and to play unselfishly, set each other up and make good plays.”
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays