Klabo and the Eagles Soaring to Special Season
Mason Klabo Comes From a Long Line of Hoopers
FARGO —
“I think it’s our defense. I think our defense makes us go and also in practice we’re very competitive. We go after each other so iron sharpening iron every day… It helps us go.” said freshman guard, Mason Klabo.
The eagles lock up; holding their opponents to 62 points per game. Defense turns to offense on the fast break with 16 steals per game and just under 88 points per contest.
“We have 3 pretty good guards. If you face guard one of us, because one of us is gonna be open and if you guard the other person the other person is gonna be open,” said junior, Ray Brown.
For the eagles opponents its pick your poison; freshman Mason Klabo leads the EDC in points per game with 25, senior Ian Motschenbacher is sixth with 18 and a half, and the conference’s top 3 point shooter, Ray Brown’s 12 make it three players in the top 19.
“Mason’s pretty young but mentally he’s a pretty grown dude, Mas comes out, knows what he’s gotta do and produces,” said Brown
“Masons a very mature kid for a freshman, his understanding of the game is just remarkable,” said head coach, Bart Manson.
Klabo was brought up as an eigth grader last year but his time with the team goes even further back to when he became the team’s waterboy as a fourth grader
“I know when I came in in the 8th grade like I already knew some of the offenses some of the defenses just from being in the locker room as a young kid but just like getting to know what coach Manson preaches to his kids when I’m like 10,11 it just helped me a lot to be successful when I play now,” said Klabo
Klabo’s knowledge of the game transcends his time with the eagles however, he comes from a long line of hoopers who have helped him hone his craft and develop a mind for the game
His mother, Mary Klabo was North Dakota’s miss basketball and the Gatorade player of the year in 1999, after high school she played for North Dakota
“We were talking about it this morning, she has like 17,000 career points. She won miss basketball, she went to und so she’s very good yeah…” said Klabo.
“My sister played all four years at und then she went down to Belgium and played for a year,” said Klabo
Mason’s older sister lexi was an all conference first team forward in the summit league in 2019 and is North Dakota’s 8th all time leading scorer
“After every game they always have something to say, they always can coach me,” Klabo.
Despite his age, Klabo’s success has not come as a surprise.
“I knew it would happen and I think us going together is a really big help to the success of this team,” said Motschenbacher.
Whether you wanna call them slash brothers or splash brothers.. Ian and Mason have proven to be a dynamic duo.
“They play alike a lot so I think it’s a little bit of a hard combination for other teams to defend because they both have the ability to get to the hole, they both have the ability to pull up and hit midrange shots and they both can hit the 3,” said Manson.
“One night, I’m not hitting my shots but he is also just helps a lot and one night he’s not hitting his shots and I am, we can go hand for hand,” said Motschenbacher.
No matter who is doing the scoring… The only numbers that the eagles care about when the final buzzer sounds is the final.
