MANSFIELD — Jared Jakubick is the chameleon of St. Peter’s basketball.
The senior shooting guard can change colors depending on what the Spartans require of him.
The Richland Bank Athlete of the Week, Jakubick scored 28 points in Saturday’s win over previously unbeaten and state-ranked Northmor.
That Jakubick dropped 28 points is not particularly newsworthy. He scored his 1,000th career point last year while averaging a team-best 18.3 points a game and is among Richland County scoring leaders again this winter.
That Jakubick scored those 28 points without making a single 3-pointer speaks to his versatility and adaptability. Against a Northmor team that featured a starting lineup with four starters who were 6-foot-3 or taller, the 6-foot-4 Jakubick spent more time in the post than usual — and was glad to do it.
“I just do whatever I have to do to help our team win,” Jakubick said Saturday night. “Tonight it was scoring. Other nights it’s going to be rebounding, passing or just playing good defense.
“I’m just happy I could help our team win.”
The Spartans (16-0, 8-0 Mid-Buckeye Conference) have won at a record-setting rate during Jakubick’s four-year career. St. Peter’s is 81-16 overall and 37-1 in MBC play, the lone conference loss coming at Loudonville early in the 2015-16 season.
The Spartans were 24-4 and reached the regional championship game in 2015-16 and were 25-3 with another regional final appearance in 2016-17. It is among the most successful two-year stretches in program history.
If the Spartans win 20 games again this year, it will mark just the third time in school history that St. Peter’s has won 20 or more games in three straight seasons (1972-73 to 1974-75; 1976-77 to 1978-79).
As for Saturday night, Jakubick was matched up against 6-foot-8 Kyle Kegley, 6-foot-7 Tyler Kegley and 6-foot-5 Blake Miller most of the evening. The trio combined for 16 points.
“We brought Jared down low to play underneath more,” said Jakubick’s father and St. Peter’s coach Joe Jakubick. “Elijah (Cobb) plays a lot taller than 6-1 so with him and Jared and Jonah Ramey (a 6-foot-3 sophomore), it gives us three big guys.”
Northmor’s height advantage didn’t bother the younger Jakubick.
“At the end of the day, it’s basketball. When you’re playing you don’t think, ‘This guys is tall,’ ” Jared Jakubick said. “I don’t think it really had a huge impact.”
Northmor (14-1) came into the game ranked ninth in Division III in the most recent Associated Press state poll. The Spartans, meanwhile, were ranked second in Division IV.
The game was played in front of a standing room only crowd at a sold-out Franciscan Activity Center.
“It was tremendous. It was deafening the whole game,” Jared Jakubick said. “A lot of people don’t get to play in this type of environment ever in their career.”
Having reached the Elite Eight each of the past two seasons, St. Peter’s is no stranger to bright lights and big stages.
“We’ve been in some big games,” Jared Jakubick said. “That experience helps a lot.”
