He's a two-time conference MVP and a three-time national scoring champion. But it's not personal records Masters is after, it's an AUS banner.
By: Monty Mosher
Javon Masters had options in Canada and the U.S.
It wasn't hard to recognize the Kitchener, Ont., native had a chance to become an elite basketball player wherever he chose to play in university.
But the UNB Varsity Reds and Fredericton won his heart and the two have had a record-setting connection.
The 22-year-old Masters, in his fourth season with the UNB, has 1,819 career points, second in conference history. Only UPEI's Curtis Robinson, with 2,069 points in five years with the Panthers, is ahead on the all-time scoring list.
"To think when I was 18 coming here I'd have 1,800 points before my fourth year was done, I'd have said no way," he said in a recent interview. "But it happened. I don't really think about it. I'm just more trying to focus on how I can help this team win an AUS title."
At his current pace, an average of better than 25 points per game for his career, he could get there this year. However, he's taken on a point guard role for head coach Brent Baker this year, reducing his gawdy scoring numbers just a bit.
"It was very welcoming," Masters said, recalling his decision to pick Baker and the UNB community. "It felt like it was a very good place for me to play basketball and get my degree in sociology. It's been a good four years so far."
He comes by his athleticism honestly. His parents, both natives of Jamaica, were athletes with his father playing cricket and soccer and his mother a basketball player.
Perennial champion Carleton recruited Masters. Ottawa, Ryerson, Wilfrid Laurier and Waterloo pushed hard for him as well.
Maybe it was just a taste for something different, but he wanted to see the world beyond Ontario.
He didn't know much about New Brunswick, or the Atlantic provinces in general. He had no idea about the AUS and its historic rivalries.
"Prior to coming out here I'd never been to the East Coast," he said. "I just didn't feel like I wanted to stay home. I wanted to venture out and become my own person, learn more about myself, and not just on the basketball court."
Had things been different, Masters might have been the toast of the Orange Army. Former Cape Breton coach Matt Skinn made a strong push to get him in Capers colours, but couldn't land him.
"They had Jimmy Dorsey and that was really the only school I heard very much about in the AUS," Masters said. "But once I came here I understood how much of a battle, how much of a grind it was to try to win each and every night."
His numbers are little short of ridiculous, beginning with 547 points as a freshman in 2013-14. It came as no surprise he was the national rookie of the year.
He had 501 points as a sophomore and 560 last year, matching a team-record 44 in a win against UPEI. He has 211 in 11 games thus far this season, but leads the conference in assists by a wide margin with 69.
The 547 and 560-point seasons place him second and third all-time in the AUS. Joey Haywood had 575 for Saint Mary's in 2010-11.
He has made 603 free throws in his career. He will leave that record so badly smashed it is likely never to be challenged again.
Masters landed on the second all-Canadian team as a rookie and his been on the first team the last two years. He's been the AUS most valuable for the past two years.
UNB is 7-4 and in the thick of the one of tightest AUS playoff races in recent times. The top six teams are separated by only eight points with five weeks left and the seventh-place team is just four points out of a Final 6 berth.
Of all the numbers that surround UNB basketball, there is only one that really matters -- 1967. That's when the team won its first and only conference championship.
Masters knew he was coming to a program desperately seeking an AUS banner.
"I didn't want to go to a program that was already really established," he said. "I took it as a challenge to help build a program, help be an integral part of the program. When I decided to go to UNB and we had success my first year I knew we could build something."
The Varsity Reds were 10-10 in his first year and a league-best 16-4 in his second. But, as a No. 1 seed, they lost their tournament opener to eventual-champion Dalhousie.
They were 11-9 last year but got bounced in the opening round by Saint Mary's.
There are only so many chances in a varsity career to raise the trophy. A good tournament run this season comes with the added bonus of two AUS teams advancing to nationals with Dalhousie guaranteed a spot as host.
"You talk to the alumni, you hear the buzz around the city, and everybody is itching for a championship," Masters said. "We feel like we have the team and the depth to do it. It's going to be hard with so many good teams. Each game you have to be prepared mentally and physically.
Masters expects to be back next year, but will cross that bridge in the off-season. Some day he would like to play professionally.
He might not be the last member of his family to play basketball for UNB. Younger brother Marcus, who is turning 17, will have a decision to make on a university in another year or so.
"There's potential," Masters said. "The coaching staff better get on that."