J.P. MACURA
Lakeville North • basketball
Friends have been asking Macura to divulge his secret. After playing sparingly for the Panthers' Class 4A runners-up team last year, the junior guard has come out blazing this season, averaging nearly 30 points per game (29.2, to be precise) as Lakeville North jumped out to a 5-0 start. How, they ask, is he doing it?
Macura's answer is remarkable for its simplicity.
"I honestly don't know," he admitted. "It's probably because I take most of the shots."
Clearly, the sharp-shooting Marcura is not only scoring, he's also humble.
In three games last week, he topped 30 points twice, highlighted by a career-high 36 in an 84-63 rout of Farmington.
"My teammates have been giving me a ton of open shots, so I expected to score the most on the team, but I wasn't expecting to score anywhere near 30," he said, "They want me to take most of the shots. I'm just glad to be making them and that we're winning."
A naturally gifted shooter, Macura said that it wasn't until he was in 10th grade that he took his talent seriously.
"I used to just rely on being a good shooter, but I never practiced it," he said. "Then in eighth and ninth grade, I started getting worse. I needed to hit the practice gym. I started going all the time and became a much better shot."
