By Trey Hunter
Sports Editor
Mason Bomhoff was all about getting his teammates involved.
Last year’s senior point guard for Okarche was the perfect fit for his team’s offensive philosophy of dribble-drive, first started in Oklahoma high school basketball by his coach Ray West and an offense made famous by Kentucky coach John Calipari while he was at Memphis.
It’s all about keeping everybody happy.
“I liked being the leader of the offense,” Bomhoff said. “And directing traffic and seeing the whole court. Getting everybody going was big for me and making sure everyone could score. It helped keep everyone happy. Once you even out the scoring, you win more games. I found that out over the last three years.”
West was excited about how his point guard had developed over the last four years and had high praise for his work ethic and skills.
“Mason was one of the better point guards around Class A,” Okarche’s long time coach said.
“He penetrated and passed and sets up his teammates really well and he was extremely unselfish, which is what you want from your point guard. He could score, but he’d rather set everyone else up.”
Coming off an injury towards the end of his junior campaign, Bomhoff and his coach expected him to be healthy heading into 2018-19.
“He was down to about 25 to 50-percent with some Achilles problems,” West said. “But now he looked like he was healthy. He was shooting it real well in practice and he was working hard. I was really impressed though with how he tried to fight through it his junior year and really played hard when he knew his teammates needed him. He kept trying because he’s a leader.”
His first three years fed into Bomhoff’s dream – making the Class A State Tournament and playing in the Big House at the State Fairgrounds in Oklahoma City. The Warriors fell short of reaching the playoffs in the prior three season although each year they won over 20 games. And then they marched to the playoffs this year, completing his ultimate goal.
“It was always a dream of mine to play in the State Tournament,” Bomhoff said. “We got really close the last three years and this year it seemed like it was pretty open. A lot of really good players graduated and there wasn’t really a lot of amazing teams that were just going to take over.
“I thought this is the year we can make it.”
In his off time, Bomhoff honed his skills on the guitar, self-teaching himself over the last four years. Like basketball, it’s something that helped keep him focused on goals.
“I’m trying to learn songs from Eric Clapton, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix and more,” he said.
“I thought it would be so hard and wouldn’t be able to do it. But I kept it up and I’ve learned to love it.”
As Bomhoff thinks about the previous years, he pondered his final season at Okarche and looked back on key moments that helped shape his high school career. He thinks back to reaching state and winning the Three Rivers Tournament championship his sophomore year where the Warriors knocked off a now rival Hennessey.
“That one was really fun for me and really brought us together as a team,” he said. “It’s something I will always remember.”
