Patience becomes virtue for Mesa’s Knox

Rick Devereux

Scott Knox, a junior shooting guard with the Costa Mesa High boys

basketball team, used to play like a famous Wayne Gretzky quote.

He knew he would miss 100% of the shots he didn’t take, so he

threw up a lot of shots. He told Mesa Coach Ryan Schachter it was

probably around 300 three-pointers last season. As a sophomore Knox

connected on what is believed to be a school-record 91 three-pointers and had a Newport-Mesa single-game record 10 threes in the regular-season finale against Santa Ana.

But Schachter, in his first year as the Mustangs’ coach, wanted

Knox to develop a new offensive philosophy.

“We butted heads a couple of times [during summer practices],”

Schachter said. “[Former Coach Bob] Serven ran several plays mainly

for Scott to get the ball, which is smart because Scott is such a

good basketball player.”

Schachter implemented a new offense that relies on passing and

finding an open shot. It has translated into a more team-oriented

game for Mesa.

“Scott believes there are other guys that can score because we

can’t rely on one guy to score,” Schachter said. “There is a

trickle-down effect: if he doesn’t have confidence in his teammates,

he won’t pass the ball to them. And the team won’t have confidence if

Scott doesn’t pass the ball to them.”

Knox has not just embraced the new offensive scheme, he has

flourished in it. He averaged 15.5 points per game last year to lead

the Mustangs. Despite taking fewer shots, Knox has averaged 20.3

points in that last three games and 19.2 in the last five to earn

Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week honors.

And the most important part is Costa Mesa is 4-0 in the Golden

West League. The Mustangs were 2-2 after the first four league

contests last year.

The change of philosophy has sunk in, affecting Knox’s entire

vision of basketball.

“I’m very proud of what I accomplished last year [setting

three-point records],” he said. “But I worked hard in the off-season

to round out my game. I worked hard to improve my footwork and get

stronger so I can be better on defense.”

Schachter was given an offensive weapon most coaches would drool

over. But he knew Knox was far from the polished product the new

system required.

“He was a good shooter, but he was streaky, which meant that he

still had things that needed to be corrected,” Schachter said. “I

give him all the credit in the world for the strides he has taken

defensively. And I am proud of his patience and willingness to not

just settle for three-point baskets only. He has worked on attacking

the basket more. It’s a new facet of the game for him. He’s still

learning.”

Knox’s maturity has helped the team score more points than last

year. Mesa averaged 51.3 points per game last season but is putting

up more than 55 per game this year.

“My role has changed,” Knox said. “I don’t have to rely on my

shooting for our team to win. We can go to anyone at any time in the

game and rely on them to knock down a shot.”

Switching to a more patient shot selection has helped the team as

a whole, but Knox had a feeling that last year’s numbers would

generate added focus from opponents this year.

“I knew it would be tough to score as much as I did last year,”

Knox said. “My goal this year was to help the team on the defensive

end of the floor.”