WESTFIELD — Every successful college basketball team needs leaders who are willing to take on challenges for the benefit of the group. On the Westfield State men’s basketball team, Lynn native Peter Mafo has emerged as one of those leaders.
A team captain for the Owls in his junior season, Mafo’s off to a solid start to the 2017-2018 campaign. In 11 games, 10 starts, Mafo has posted averages of 23.9 minutes, 8.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists per contest. The Owls’ starting point guard, Mafo’s shooting 40 percent from the field and 24 percent from the three.
“Peter’s shooting has improved a great deal since his freshman year but his embrace of our weight training program has made him bigger, faster and stronger,” Owls coach Rich Sutter said. “The biggest improvement this year has been on his on-ball defense out front. I expect Peter to continue his growth as a player and a person, and help lead the team to a league title.”
Westfield State’s Peter Mafo drives to the hoop against nationally-ranked Williams College. (Photo courtesy of Westfield State/Sam DiPhillipo)
In his high school basketball career, Mafo was a two-year varsity starter at Lynn Classical for former Rams coach Tom Grassa. Mafo, who also played varsity soccer at Classical, still keeps in touch with his high school basketball coach.
“We won the Northeastern Conference my junior year,” Mafo said. “We built a great team and we worked hard in practice. Coach Grassa’s a great coach and a great person. He still keeps up with me every now and then.”
Last season, Mafo and the Owls finished 10-15 while winning six of their 12 games against MASCAC opponents. Westfield fell in the opening round of the MASCAC Tournament with a 71-63 loss to Worcester State.
“We had an up-and-down year,” Mafo, a criminal justice major, said. “We finished close to .500. We lost in the first round of the playoffs. I felt that we had a lot of potential on our team and we could’ve been a lot better than we were. This year we have a lot more depth. We lack a lot of experience because we have a lot of younger players. The good thing is the future looks bright for our team.”
Offensive struggles, specifically in shooting, handicapped Westfield last winter. This season, the Owls are looking to address those weaknesses by turning them into strengths, and it starts in practice.
“We struggled with our free throw shooting and our offense,” Mafo said. “We weren’t scoring as much as we could’ve been. This year we’re showing improvements and we’ve picked things up on both aspects of the game. The coaches have us do a lot of shooting in practice. We spend about an hour on shooting every practice.”
As the team’s starting point guard, Mafo naturally assumes a leadership role. The leadership he showed on the court through his first two years left a strong impression on Westfield’s coaching staff, leading to Mafo being named a captain prior to the start of the season.
“I like being responsible,” Mafo said. “I feel like I’m a great leader and I’m always ready to learn how to be a better leader. This summer, I learned how to a better leader. I’m learning how to communicate and be more vocal with my teammates.
“It means a lot that the coaches believe in me and trust me to lead the team in the right direction,” Mafo added. “It shows that my teammates also believe in me and trust me to lead them to success this season.”
One of Mafo’s goals for the season is to lead the Owls to a MASCAC championship. Given the number of teams that have emerged as successful programs in the conference, winning MASCAC is easier said than done.
“There’s a lot of competition here,” Mafo said. “I learned that through my first two seasons. I feel that I’ve grown into one of the better players in the conference and I think we’re one of the better teams. I’d say it’s between us, Salem and Bridgewater.”
Thus far the Owls are 5-6 on the season, 2-5 in conference play. Westfield aims to break a four-game slide on Dec. 30 when the Owls take the court against Regis in the Trinity College Holiday Tournament.
“We’re going to have to play defensive and smart basketball,” Mafo said. “The fact that we’re young puts us at a disadvantage against teams like Salem and Bridgewater. Both of those teams return most of their players. I feel that if we play hard and gritty basketball, we’ll be fine this season.” – Courtesy of Westfield State University Sports/Lynn Daily Item
