Jones is playing ‘bright-lights role’ for Valparaiso
Mason Jones was unfazed in his more prominent position for Valparaiso.
The junior forward had 17 points, 10 rebounds and five steals as the visiting Vikings topped West Side 78-53 in Gary on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.
“He’s going to be such a great player,” Valparaiso coach Barak Coolman said. “He’s learning, and it’s all new for him. He’s never really been the man in the brightlights role. It’s just a matter of him embracing it and not letting it get to be too much pressure.
“He’s extremely hardworking, and he puts a lot of pressure on himself. He’s still learning this new role as one of the go-to guys, and then it’s just trusting his teammates along the way. I’m pleased with him (Wednesday), but we’re just scratching the surface.”
The 6-foot-7 Jones holds an offer from Purdue Fort Wayne. About a dozen Division I programs watched him play at Valparaiso this fall.
“There’s a lot of interest,” Coolman said. “He’s definitely on the radar.”
Valparaiso scored the game’s first 11 points before West Side senior guard Nisaiah King hit a 3-pointer with 3:34 left in the first quarter. Jones had six of his nine first-quarter points during that stretch, including a steal and dunk, the first of two such plays.
“Dunks are real momentum-changers,” Jones said. “Any chance I can get one, I try to do it.
“I’m glad how our team came
out. We had a really good energy. We were running in transition, including me. I finished well, and I hit my free throws, which is something I’ve been working on all summer. I’m thankful my teammates got me in the groove in the beginning. We played a really good team, and we played our best basketball. But we have to keep getting better.”
West Side closed to 12-8 on
King’s 3-point play with 2:27 left in the first quarter. But Valparaiso reeled off 15 straight points before King hit a 3-pointer a minute into the second quarter.
In his first varsity game, Valparaiso junior wing Derrick Brooks scored eight points during that run and finished with 16.
“Derrick’s a really hard worker,” Coolman said. “He’s a gym rat. We know he’s going to give us buckets coming off the bench. For him to be able to jump in and do that, it was exciting to see.”
The Vikings stretched their lead to as many as 30 points, when freshman guard Jack Smiley hit a 3-pointer with 1:37 left in the third to make it 59-29. He had seven points.
“Jack’s a really promising freshman,” Coolman said. “For him to get thrown into the fire against pressure, he did a great job in an environment he’s never truly been in. The future is extremely bright for Jack and our group.”
Senior point guard Breece Walls had nine points, 11 assists and five steals for the Vikings.
King led the Cougars with 19 points. He scored their first 11 before Montrell McLaurin made a free throw with 4:30 left in the second quarter. Trevion Williamson,
who finished with 12 points, scored on a putback with 3:03 left in the first half for West Side’s first basket from someone other than King.
The Cougars, who lost to eventual state champion Carmel in overtime in a Class 4A semistate last season, was ranked No. 14 in the first state coaches poll. But coach Chris Buggs understands this group is dramatically different and needs to gain experience. West Side graduated a talented senior class and lost North Carolina recruit Jalen Washington to a season-ending right knee injury.
“It was humbling,” Buggs said. “We know we have some other guys who are returning who are not healthy right now, and we have new guys. When you have new guys, you don’t know what to expect against a good team that has experience, it’s disciplined and well-coached.
“But I’m still excited about our guys. It was a good test for them. They didn’t do well, but I like where we are as a program going forward. I saw some things I’m really excited about, and I saw a lot of bad things, but we kept fighting. It’s a long season. We’re going to get better every day, and I’ve very optimistic.”