Leader of the pack
ADAMS TWP — It’s the Monday after Christmas and the Mars boys basketball team is running sprints.
Leading the pack is Owen Nearhoof. Each time down the floor, the senior guard is touching the baseline first.
“He was out there still practicing like a guy who is trying to make the team,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody.
Trying to win a sprint — well, trying to win anything — is just in Nearhoof’s DNA.
“I’ve always been a competitive kid,” he said. “I want to win at everything, whether it is sports or not, even in the classroom. I always think you should go as hard as you can. For me, I’m playing 32 minutes a game, so I need to keep my conditioning up. As a leader, I need to set a mind-set for the younger guys.”
Nearhoof has done much more than that for Mars, a team that lost four of five starters to graduation after it won the section title last season for the first time since 1987.
The only holdover was Nearhoof, who missed several games with a knee injury last season.
“Every year you work hard in the off-season to prepare,” Nearhoof said. “This year I worked a little harder.”
Nearhoof said he knew there would be much more onus on him as the only player returning with significant experience. Last season, surrounded by scorers, Nearhoof was more of a facilitator and averaged a shade under nine points per game.
This year, Nearhoof has sparked the offense as a scorer, leading the Butler County area at 20.1 points per game.
He’s played his best against staunch competition. He scored 30 points against Seneca Valley, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer that lifted the Planets to a win. He also scored 27 against state-ranked quad-A school Hampton and 27 again last weekend against Aliquippa.
The scoring explosion hasn’t come completely by surprise. In his second game as a freshman, Nearhoof scored 20 points. As a sophomore, he averaged 13.3 points per game.
“This year it’s been fun to watch,” Carmody said. “Last year, we had a plethora of guys who could score and Owen did what we needed him to do. This year we’ve needed him to score and he’s done it in a bunch of different ways, hitting 3-pointers, going to the basket, getting steals. It’s a product of him working hard.”
Nearhoof is creeping up on 1,000 career points. He also has an outside shot at the all-time scoring mark at Mars held by Christian Locher with 1,290.
None of that is important to Nearhoof, though, especially on a young team he is trying to help guide through transition.
Despite its youth and tough early season schedule, Mars is 4-4 overall and 2-1 in the section.
“I just want to do whatever I have to do to win,” Nearhoof said. “That’s really all I think about.”
Nearhoof has won a lot, both on the basketball court and the football field.
He’s been a part of 61 basketball wins and 24 football victories in his career.
“I don’t know of too many high school athletes who have had as much success,” Carmody said. “He’s going to score 1,000 points. He’s been pretty incredible.”
