High-scoring Masters shoots for conference championship
One historic achievement is behind him and an even bigger milestone moment is inevitable.
Kitchener native Javon Masters is proud of his individual accomplishments but his focus is on something he hasn’t been able to achieve during his impressive run at the University of New Brunswick — leading the Varsity Reds to their second Atlantic University Sport men’s basketball championship.
UNB won its first and only AUS championship way back in 1967 and Masters believes the current squad has a chance of adding itself to the history books. The Dalhousie Tigers, Acadia Axemen at Saint Mary’s Huskies will be the other teams to watch, Masters said, when the Atlantic conference’s top six teams gather March 2-4 in Halifax to determine a champion.
“It’s the only thing on my mind really, to have the chance to play for the AUS title on that Sunday afternoon in Halifax,” Masters said Friday, prior to his team’s evening contest against Saint Mary’s.
“There are a lot of good teams in the conference … but I think we have the team to do it. We just have to put in the work, make the sacrifices and prepare ourselves as best we can.”
Competing on that Sunday afternoon would help Masters achieve another goal he’s been chasing since arriving in Saint John, helping the Reds earn a spot in the U Sports national championship. That eight-team event, scheduled for March 8-11, is also in Halifax. Acadia is already in as tournament host and another AUS team will join them.
Going into Friday night’s clash, the Varsity Reds (10-3) had seven regular-season games to play, including a pair of weekend games at home against the Saint Mary’s Huskies. The team is currently in third place in the standings, behind Dalhousie (11-2) and Acadia (10-2), and can lock up a playoff berth this weekend.
A six-foot guard who leads the conference in scoring this season with 26.3 points per game, Masters crushed the AUS all-time scoring record two months ago in a game against Saint Mary’s. The previ-
ous mark of 2,069 points, set by University of Prince Edward Island graduate Curtis Henderson, had stood for nearly two decades.
Masters had 2,257 points to his credit going into Friday night’s game and was within striking distance of the official U Sports record of 2,282 career points, set by Boris Bakovic during a four-year run at Ryerson and a fifth year at the University of Calgary.
“It will be a phenomenal accomplishment, one that I will be able to look back on with pride,” he said.
“I never thought of this as a possibility when I came to UNB but I’ve always believed in my ability and I’ve always worked hard, trying to perfect my craft.”
Masters was a standout performer at Forest Heights Collegiate Institute but wasn’t viewed as a “can’t-miss” category by university scouts.
A handful of schools did pursue him to varying degrees but he felt an immediate connection with UNB head coach Brent Barker and opted to take his game to the East Coast.
He has been a beast from the start at UNB and was named the conference’s top rookie in 2014. He is a four-time AUS first-team allstar and earned conference MVP honours in 2015 and 2016. The durable performer missed just three of 80 regular-season games in his first four years — he was hobbled by an ankle injury last season — and has missed one game this season.
He leads all AUS players this season by playing 33.2 minutes per game. He is first in free throws taken and percentage made, (88 of 99 – 89.9 per cent), second in steals (27), third in assists (63), fourth in defensive rebounds (65), and sixth in total rebounds (76).
Masters added another impressive achievement to his resumé last summer when he was named to the Canadian team that participated at the 29th Summer Universiade in Chinese Taipei.
“Javon definitely has a knack for being in the moment,” Barker said in a recent news release on the UNB website. “He continues to buy into the process that has brought him the success that is well deserved over the course of his career.”
Masters will return to Kitchener after earning a degree in May and said he will likely pursue a career in professional basketball after forming a game plan with advice from Barker and his parents.
That, however, is something he is in no rush to think about.
He is focused on leading his team to an AUS title and everything else, with the exception of being a university student, is a distraction.
He is aware that some observers will put an asterisk next to his career stats if he is unable to lead his team to a conference title.
“For a lot of people, it would be a huge asterisk on my career, saying I’ve never won an AUS title and stuff like that,” he said.
“Sometimes it feels like I’m carrying a whole school, a whole province, so for me to not help win an AUS title and bring it back here would be very disappointing.”
If Masters does realize his dream of making it to the U Sports national championship, there’s a possibility he’ll cross paths with a close friend and former opponent who is currently lighting it up for the No. 2 nationally ranked Brock Badgers.
Masters has regular conversations with Dani Elgadi, formerly of Waterloo Collegiate, and would relish the opportunity to play against him in Halifax.
“I’ve had a couple of conversations with him about it … I mean that’s my dawg, that’s my guy,” said Masters.
“He wants the best for me, I want the best for him and hopefully we both make it to nationals.”
Masters also stays in close contact with his younger brother, Marcus, a five-foot-10 point guard who is currently enrolled at the Toronto Basketball Academy.
The younger Masters is in his fourth year of high school and will attempt to follow the same path as his older brother.
University scouts might want to pay close attention.