orts
Changing Of The Guard
Mat Ishbia has grown into the role of Seaholm's floor leader.
MIKE ROSENBAUM
Special to The Jewish News
L
ike the main character of the
classic Charles Dickens novel,
Mat Ishbia was given Great
Expectations for this basketball
season.
Lifted from his job as a working-class
role player, the Birmingham Seaholm
senior received the high-class position of
scorer.
But unlike Dickens' character Pip,
Ishbia is thriving in his new life, averag-
ing 20 points and seven assists per
game, while leading an inexperienced
Maples team to a respectable 4-4 start.
Ishbia is a third-year varsity player at
Seaholm. In the off-season, he also plays
for the talented Michigan Mustangs
Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team,
which finished second in the nation in
1997.
Until this season, however, his role
on both teams was similar — the 5-foot-
10 Ishbia was supposed to get the ball
to the big men who did the scoring.
Ishbia started about half of Seaholm's
games last season, playing in the shadow
of star guard Jon Borovich, - who
earned a basketball scholarship from
Central Michigan University. Ishbia
scored 7.1 points per game, along with
four assists and two steals.
"He was a guy who gave us big min-
utes," explained Maples Coach Dave
Watkins. "Last year we didn't ask him to
score a lot, but he was able to get the
ball to our scorers."
_ But Borovich and 'the team's other
scorers graduated, so the torch passed to
Ishbia.
"This year he's our scorer," Watkins
said. "He's the guy who's got the ball in
his hands and he makes the decisions. If
he needs to score 20 he can. If he needs
to play good defense and get the ball to
other people who are hot, he can do
that."
Mostly, Ishbia's had the hot hand. He
scored a career-best 36 points against
Waterford Kettering on Jan. 6, and still
added seven assists and six steals.
Ishbia began preparing for his scorer's
role last summer.
Mike Rosenbaum is a Southfield-
based freelance writer.
"All summer I worked on my
jumper and was practicing more of the
mentality of scoring, instead of giving it
up to the other players," he said. "I just
worked all summer with some of the
kids on the team. I had to work on my
jump shot and all my scoring tools so I
could shoot better, score more and pass
better."
-0
8
Above: Mat Ishbia pulls down a
rebound.
Left: Mat Ishbia drives past a
Clawson defender.
o.
d
But a scorer doesn't succeed on phys-
ical tools alone. He must also be strong
mentally.
"I guess I was confident but also a lit-
tle nervous," Ishbia said, "I could (score)
in the summer, but it's always different
when the season starts.
"I was worried because there is pres-
sure. If I didn't score, we'd have trouble.
scoring."
So far, Ishbia's physical and mental
games have come together. Watkins,
who helped Ishbia work on his offensive
skills last summer, appreciates Ishbia's
progress.
"He wasn't a great scorer as a fresh-
man or sophomore," Watkins recalled.
"His junior year he started proving that
he could score, and of course he knows
he has to score for us this year.
"It used to be his three-point shot
was a little suspect last year, but this year
you've got to come out and guard him.
Mat's in that category where he can
score but he can also dish out the
assists."
Indeed, in Seaholm's fourth game
this season, Ishbia yielded his scoring
role, finishing with seven points and a
school-record 15 assists in a victory over
Madison Heights Lamphere.
"He likes to get his points just like
anybody," Watkins said. "But he also
realizes that if somebody else is hot, he
has no problem giving them the ball."
Asked to compare the 15-assist game
with his 36-point effort, Ishbia respond-
ed, "Any game is great as long as we
win. I enjoyed the 15-assist game,
because with assists it's not really me
and it was more of a team effort.
"With the 36 points, we needed
someone to score and I was just trying
to do my best to keep up in the game.
But I was disappointed we lost that
game."
As a senior captain, Ishbia's responsi-
bilities also include team leadership. In
that important area, Watkins says,
Ishbia also has improved.
"He can be very emotional. It used
to be if things would go bad he'd kind
of lose his cool a little bit and start
arguing with the ref and things like
that," he said. "Now he's really
matured into understanding that
sometimes you've got to just stay posi-
tive; sometimes there are going to be
bad calls. Sometimes players are going
to make mistakes. But you've just got
to hang in there with them and things
will get better."
Another key facet to Ishbia's game is
his intelligence.
"His basketball IQ is as high as any-
body I've ever had on the team, and I've
had some pretty good players in the last
six years," Watkins said. "He really
understands the game. He's not the
tallest or the quickest, but you'll be-
hard-pressed to find anybody smarter
than him on the court."
Ishbia believes he's developed his
court-sense through study, as well as
practice.
In addition to playing on school and
AAU teams, Ishbia was a mainstay on
Detroit's Maccabi basketball team from
age 13 through 16.
"Being there was a fun experience,"
he said. "I wasn't friends with anyone
who goes to those schools, but we
became friends."
-Ishbia's future basketball goals
include a repeat of Seaholm's Oakland
Activities Association Division III cham-
pionship and another good run in the
state tournament, where the Maples
were a regional finalist last year.
Next fall he expects to play college
basketball. He's heard from a number of
schools, including many Division III
colleges and some Division I and II
schools.
"Hopefully, if the season keeps going
well, eventually I can go to a Division I
school ... maybe an Ivy League school,"
he says.
Ultimately, Ishbia would like to be a
coach.
"I think I understand the game and I
enjoy it. I always like to be around it,"
he said. "I think I could see myself
being a coach, because I like to be with
kids. That would be fun, I think.",
For now, Ishbia the player is enjoying
the best of times. ❑
1 / 23
1998
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