
Mason Martin has a straightforward role in his varsity debut. ‘Keep shooting.' Neuqua Valley is happy he does.
'He was the best shooter on the sophomore team last year,' coach Todd Sutton said with a chuckle.
Martin hasn't been any less effective this season.
'He's the leading 3-point shooter,' Sutton said.
Indeed, while freshman phenom Cole Kelly has made the most 3-pointers for the Wildcats, the 6-foot-3 Martin is the most efficient long-distance shooter, connecting on 39% of his attempts.
Martin eclipsed that rate in his playoff debut on Wednesday. After missing his first three shots from beyond the arc, Martin hit his final four. He scored 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to lift the seventh-seeded Wildcats to a 51-40 victory over 10th-seeded Naperville North in the Class 4A Waubonsie Valley Regional semifinals.
Kelly added 13 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals for Neuqua Valley (20-12), which advances to play second-seeded Waubonsie Valley (30-2) in the regional championship game at 7 p.m. Friday. Junior guard/forward Miles Okyne led Naperville North (17-15) with 16 points.
Martin, who is averaging 10.0 points per game, struggled with illness and inconsistency during the first half of the season. But Sutton's confidence in him didn't waver.
'Every time I'm open, our coaches keep telling me to shoot it,' Martin said. 'So I've been working for so long on that.
'When I get it when I'm open, I'm going to keep shooting it. I've got to have that confidence.'
Which is why Martin wasn't flustered when he and Kelly, who went scoreless in the first half, started slowly on Wednesday. The Huskies took a 20-18 halftime lead after Okyne hit a lean-in jumper at the buzzer.
'In the first half, I wasn't really hitting all that,' Martin said. 'I've just got to keep that confidence that the next one's going in.'
It did. After Kelly and sophomore forward Danny Mikuta scored on putbacks, senior guard David Taiwo found Martin open underneath for a layup that gave the Wildcats a 24-20 lead.
It was the beginning of a 14-3 run during which Martin hit back-to-back 3-pointers that gave Neuqua Valley a 32-23 cushion.
'That's his job — shoot the ball,' Sutton said.
Martin has been doing so more frequently in the past month, and his scoring has increased in proportion.
'He wasn't always like that,' Neuqua Valley senior guard Garreck Chong said. 'He didn't start every game. He started off on the bench, but he's always been there.
'He's had some big games, and he just hits shots. We just rely on him to make threes and score for us.'
That's part of Kelly's job, too, and he eventually came through against Naperville North. He did it without hitting a 3-pointer, partially because the Huskies were keying on him. That left Martin operating in the shadows, which is a familiar and comfortable place for him.
'I love being in it because if they're going to keep focusing in on him, if they go box-and-one, everyone else is wide open,' Martin said. 'So I love that he's such a good player that he can still overcome that. When everyone else is playing freely, it's so nice for us.'
That was the case in the second half.
'We had that little run in the third quarter,' Chong said. 'In these playoff games, all it takes is that little swing, and they never came back. We kept the lead.'
The Huskies did cut the gap to 38-35. But on the ensuing possession, Chong found Martin open on the left wing, and Martin hit a 3-pointer with 4:33 left in the fourth quarter.
'The coach was screaming 'drive and kick' the whole time, so he was open,' Chong said of his assist to Martin. 'He got his rhythm and got some shots and made them.'
Martin, whose final shot was a layup to make it 49-38 with 1:11 left, said he wasn't calling for the ball. Nor did he call his shot on the tide-turning 3-pointer.
'We were just running through the offense,' he said. 'They were in that zone, so we were just trying to move it. Eventually it just got to me.
'I was open, so I just had that confidence that I was going to keep hitting.'
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Chicago Tribune
11 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Big Ten media days: Northwestern ready for a second season with lakefront vibes
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It allows our guys to have a level of consistency in terms of where they're playing for all their home games. Allows for our students to engage. And then you bring the element of, I mean, you are on one of the most prime pieces of real estate in the entire country, right on Lake Michigan. Beautiful fall day, Big Ten football, it's pretty special.' New year, new slate, no outside noise. That's the mantra in Happy Valley, despite James Franklin being saddled with a 4-20 mark as coach at Penn State against teams ranked in the AP Top 10. 'Coming to Penn State, I came here to win Big Ten championships and win a national championship,' Penn State safety Zakee Wheatley said Wednesday. 'The beginning of every year, that's expectations. Whatever happens, happens. But that's how I go into the season every year. 'Coach Franklin does a great job of making sure we're laser focused on the task at hand.' 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'We were a game away from playing for the National Championship, and you could actually make the argument a drive away from playing for the National Championship, but it didn't feel that way, right? Because the expectations at Penn State are really high. We embrace that.' Wheatley, a fifth-year senior, agreed, saying it's the best atmosphere he's been around since landing on campus. 'The amount of film work and amount of extra work being put in, the energy around the building right now is electric,' said Wheatley, whose 16 tackles in the Orange Bowl against Notre Dame tied for the third-most recorded by a Penn State player in a postseason game. 'With the amount of veteran guys we got coming back and leadership we got going on, it kind of flows from freshmen to seniors. Everyone feels good right now.' 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Fox Sports
12 hours ago
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Spain or England? Breaking Down, Predicting the Euro 2025 Final We Wanted To See
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But it was Kelly, England's hero from the last European championship, who came on as a late sub and provided a spark that carried her team to those victories. Against Sweden, Kelly had the assist on Lucy Bronze's goal in the 79th minute and then converted her penalty during the shootout. In the Italy match, she was tasked with taking the controversial spot kick in the 119th minute. While she missed her initial attempt, the confident forward followed up and fired her own game-winning rebound into the back of the net. Then England's celebration queen paid homage to both Cristiano Ronaldo's "calma, calma" gesture and Thierry Henry's corner-flag pose in fitting fashion: "It's definitely a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat," Kelly added. Aitana Bonmatí, who was hospitalized with meningitis days before the Euros began, scored the winning goal in extra time to propel Spain to a 1-0 victory over Germany in the second semifinal. Despite not starting the first couple of games while she recovered and eased back onto the pitch, it almost seemed inevitable that Bonmatí would have a magic moment at some point during this tournament. And it happened at the most important time as a penalty shootout looomed. The two-time Ballon d'Or winner made some dangerous runs earlier in the match, but overall Germany defended her well. Then in the 113th minute, she found herself pinned near the end line at an awkward angle looking at the goal. While it seemed at first as if she was looking to cross the ball to one of her teammates, Bonmatí instead slipped a shot past German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger at the near post. Berger had been outstanding the entire tournament – she was the hero of Germany's quarterfinal win over France. But the Gotham FC goalkeeper was out of position as she likely guessed Bonmatí was going to cross the ball instead of shoot it. She blamed herself afterward. 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Even if La Roja dominate and maintain possession for most of the game on Sunday – even if they have a lead – the Lionesses are a squad that could pull the rug out at any moment. That's exactly what they did to Sweden and to Italy. At the point in those respective matches when England was mounting its comeback, the opponent had already subbed off some of its most important players, likely thinking the game was in hand. Spain and England know each other well with mostly the same rosters who faced each other in the 2023 World Cup final in Australia. Additionally, many of these players recently clashed when Arsenal defeated Barcelona 1-0 in the Champions League final. So needless to say that Sunday will be a tight, thrilling game and could very well break attendance and viewership records for a Women's European championship game. Laken Litman covers college football, college basketball and soccer for FOX Sports. She previously wrote for Sports Illustrated, USA Today and The Indianapolis Star. She is the author of "Strong Like a Woman," published in spring 2022 to mark the 50th anniversary of Title IX. Follow her at @LakenLitman . recommended Item 1 of 3 Get more from the UEFA Women's EURO Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

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