During his basketball playing days at Yough, Austin Matthews didn’t always have a lot of opportunities to demonstrate is offensive ability. With the dynamic Terek Crosby leading the way for the Cougars, Matthews didn’t have to be a double-digit scorer every night.
There were never any hard feelings. Matthews called Crosby his “brother,” even though they now are on different teams in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference: Crosby with Saint Vincent and Matthews with Geneva.
It was the coaching staff at Geneva that noticed Matthews’ potential. Golden Tornadoes coach Jeff Santarsiero called Yough coach Jim Nesser after seeing Matthews play in the Roundball Futures game.
“In those all-star games, you can kind of be yourself a little bit,” said Santarsiero, who announced earlier this year he would step down at the end of this, his 30th season, as Geneva’s coach. “Then I followed him in fall league when they played (in Westmoreland County). … Then I saw him play four times his senior year, and, one time, I took (Geneva women’s basketball coach) Mike Griner’s assistant, Kevin Florent, who played professionally.
“… We were sitting there, and Kevin leaned over to me and said, ‘Jeff, this kid’s going to be good.’ And that’s coming from someone who played professional basketball, played Division I basketball, played overseas.”
The 6-foot-5 Matthews hasn’t disappointed. As Geneva (5-4, 2-0 PAC) headed into its holiday break, Matthews had started four of nine games, averaging 8.1 points — including a career-high 14 points against Pitt-Bradford — and a team-high 6.3 rebounds.
But Matthews’ true value to the Golden Tornadoes’ lineup wasn’t really known until now. As a freshman, he appeared in only 12 games — playing 59 total minutes — thanks to a knee injury that ended up shelving him for most of the season.
No surgery was required, and Matthews worked hard on rehab to get himself back on the court.
“Once we figured out his knee and what was wrong with that and he got cleared, he really got to work,” Santarsiero said. “His improvement from last year to this year is unbelievable. And that’s a tribute to Austin. He worked in the summer, he lifted, he got stronger, he got his knee stronger and he’s been able to be a force in our program as far as our inside game.”
Geneva had a lot of question marks coming into the season — especially with its bigs — after heavy graduation losses. Matthews has helped to pick up the slack.
“I think coach and some of the other guys, too, are setting me up for success,” Matthews said. “We’re always working together. … I’m just trying to score in the paint, get rebounds, protect the rim, things like that. … Run in transition, score when I can.”
Among the other areas of his game Matthews tried to shore up was his effectiveness outside the paint. He worked on his high-post skills as well as a mid-range shot. He even is trying to extend his range out to the 3-point line, though that part of his repertoire remains a work in progress.
Matthews said he wants to get a double-double every night (he has two this season). That, he said, is a means to the end of helping send off Santarsiero in style.
“I just want to win as much as we can because this is his … and the seniors, too,” Matthews said. “We’re losing a lot of people, so I want to help send them off the best way possible.”
As Santarsiero comes to the end of his career, he believes Matthews is just getting started.
“I’m guaranteeing you right now he’s going to be all-conference,” Santarsiero said. “Maybe not this year … but when he’s done playing, he’s going to be an all-conference player for sure.”