The best player you never heard about

Friday May 28, 2010

As an eight-grader on the Heritage Middle School team, Devin Masone made a name for himself on the basketball court.  His game included a lot of flash and scoring Things were looking up as the point guard had visions of starting for the Wake Forest-Rolesville Varisty team his 9^th grade season. 

Off the court, things were not going so great.  The now 5’10”, player will be the first to admit “I got into some trouble and made some mistakes.”  Masone’s mother saw her son headed down the wrong path and took the proactive approach by pulling her son out of the public school system.

Devin’s mother, Deborah Masone, thought the best plan of action was homeschool.  Deborah became a member of the Lighthouse Christian Homeschool Association.  The group focuses on giving homeschooled students and their parents, resources to develop in the classroom and extracurricular activities.  Devin matured and thrived as a homeschooled student, over time, his behavior became a non-issue.  The best thing about his new situation, was one of Lighthouse’s extracurricular outlets was basketball. 

Masone told Trianglehoops.net that the Christian basis to his education helped him not only become a calmer, better player on the court, but that he saw his life changing off the court as well.  Looking back, he accepts that being taken out of public school was the best thing for him.

When it comes to basketball, Devin is still that quick player that likes to penetrate and finish going east-west.  He has a consistent jumper and is always looking to improve all aspects of his game. 

In 09-10, Masone led the Triangle in scoring with 25 points per contest.  As PG he also tried to get teammates involved, with seven assists a game.  With all the good things going for Masone this past season, tragedy struck on February 20^th. 

The Masone’s close family friend and standout basketball player at Vance-Granville Community College, Raymond Dunn, collapsed during a game and died from a rare heart condition.  Dunn was the teammate of Devine’s older brother and a fixture at the Masone residence.  In honor of Ray, Devin changed his number from 32 to 24 and dedicated the remainder of the season to his fallen friend. 

Masone is undecided what he will do next season.  He misses the age cutoff for playing with Lighthouse, but has a year left to complete his graduation requirements.  His immediate plans are to test his mettle in top-notch area summer leagues against better competition and figure out where he will play next season.  Being that Lighthouse plays against lesser-known opponents, than the larger public and other private schools, many people have never seen him play.  He hopes his last year of prep basketball will be one where he can put his name in the mix to play on the next level.  This summer is the first step to achieving that aspiration.

His long term goals include the possibility of playing overseas as a means of providing funding to centers for at risk youth.  There is no doubt that Masone’s journey has taught him the meaning of giving back and being a well rounded individual.

Kerry Smith

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