By Eric Matsumoto
At only 15 years old, Mason Magee is already making a name for himself at Basha High School. A true junior, Magee has started for two years as the point guard for the number five high school boy’s basketball program in the country.
His raw talent and relentless work ethic made Magee a star in his short time at Basha, and a key piece in their run to the state semi-finals in 2024.
“He’s extremely talented, hard-working,” Head Coach Mike Grothaus said. “He’s got a high ceiling. He has Division I offers already…He’s gotten better every year. He’s definitely the catalyst for our team.”
Throughout his life, Magee has found putting in the work to get easier as he has found comfort on the court. Rather than thinking of it as work, Magee simply enjoys the time to only think about basketball.
“As the years went by I just found it to be an outlet for me to express myself and just kind of get away from everything,” Magee said. “It’s really like therapy for me.”
Defenders typically find encounters with Magee to be anything but therapeutic, as the 6’1 guard’s speed and ability to move downhill make him a nightmare to defend.
“He’s an explosive guard,” Grothaus said. “He can get to any spot he wants on the floor…In two years I just haven’t seen any kid that can stay in front of him.”
Magee and Basha are competing in Monarch Sports’s 13th Annual PrimeTime Invitational this weekend at Brophy College Prep. Magee hopes to win of course, but he also wants to use the offseason competition to improve his game.
“It allows me to work on different aspects of my game,” Magee said. “Rebounding, I’ve been focusing a lot on and my three-point shot I’ve been focusing on too. So these games help me foster that and see where my development and growth has been from last year”
As Magee enters his junior year, he will begin to transition towards being a leader on and off the court and look to the team’s future.
“He’s got to find his voice,” Grothaus said. “He’s a great leader by example because of how hard he works but now…we expect him to elevate the game of others and lift other guys up and help this team out.”
With Division I offers already on the table, Magee has begun to think about what he wants to do in the future, both on and off the court.
“When I go to college I plan to study oneirology [the study of dreams] and the human mind and human brain,” Magee said. “It’s always just interested me so I figured I’d go to college for that.”
While scouts and schools are certainly thinking about Magee’s future well beyond high school and college, Magee is focused more on the present and the short term.
“Ultimately, the goal is to get to college, produce as much as I can,” Magee said. “Beyond that, I don’t know. We’ll just have to see, whatever happens, happens.”
