When the Ohio Valley Conference updates its history book after this season, there will be a prominent place in it for a seemingly unlikely player. That player had his career end in heart-breaking fashion on Saturday night, though it also happened the way his entire career went: not for a lack of trying.
With a berth in the conference tournament on the line, something that had eluded Eastern Kentucky in each of Nick Mayo’s first three seasons, he had two chances in the final minute after hitting clutch shots earlier. Neither of them dropped, unlike so many other shots he took in his four-year career. Morehead State grabbed the lead late and held on to win, knocking the Colonels out of the picture, instead of what would be a great story of Mayo getting one chance at last.
At the end of the day, team success is perhaps the only thing that eluded him during his time in Richmond.
In February, Mayo topped 2,000 career points, and he did more than continue to extend his school record in that category in the final month. He finishes his career fifth all-time in scoring in OVC history with over 2,300 points, passing such big names as Marcus Brown, Isaac Spencer and Bubba Wells recently. He will leave school as the only player in OVC history with 2,000 points, 800 rebounds, 250 assists, 150 blocked shots, 100 steals and 100 three-pointers for his career. In addition, on Tuesday he joined Western Kentucky legend Ralph Crosthwaite as the only players to be selected to the All-OVC First Team all four years. Interestingly, when Mayo passed Crosthwaite on the OVC’s all-time scoring list, he knocked him out of the top ten.
Not bad for a young man from the middle of nowhere – or, more precisely, Belgrade, Maine.
Far from a basketball hotbed, Belgrade is probably still a place you have never heard of unless you’re from around there. Chances are, if you hear of Belgrade, you are more likely to think of the capital of Serbia than anywhere in Maine. But it was home for Mayo, the only home he knew until college. In fact, he went off to Eastern Kentucky, came home months later for the holidays, and his family had moved to Oakland, which is on the other side of the Messalonskee Lake, so he didn’t know where the new home was. For reference, the lake is about 10 miles or so north of the state capital of Augusta, and more than an hour drive from Portland.
He comes from a sports family all the way around, starting but not ending with his parents. His dad was a star pitcher in high school, while his mom was a 1,000-point scorer on the hardwood. His older sister played two years at Franklin Pierce College, and his younger sister plays basketball and volleyball in high school now. They, along with a few friends – about 20 or so in all – were present for Senior Night, and his family made it to more games this year than his first three years in Richmond.
For his part, Nick was a pretty good pitcher on the diamond as well growing up. He didn’t play AAU on the hardwood until his junior year, and that led to a decision about his athletic career. His high school baseball coach talked to him about the consequences of missing weekends to play basketball – namely, having to miss games – and at least some of those consequences were likely from state association rules. At that point, a decision was made, partly already made for him: basketball it is. He went all in.
Mayo played AAU with Maine MAC, which at that time was led by Carl Parker, a long-time coach in Maine who has had much success. Parker is an old-school coach, and that helped Mayo a great deal aside from getting more opportunities for college coaches to see him play.
“That’s the reason that I’m here in Division I,” Mayo reflected. “I didn’t really play AAU until my junior year with him. He helped me with my confidence and to reach my potential at that point in my life. He was really great for me and my family, and he pushed me to be the best I could be, he helped me with my exposure, and that’s why I’m here.”
Another who pushed him to new heights was A.W. Hamilton, who took over as head coach at Eastern Kentucky after Dan McHale was fired last year. Mayo said he kept his options open about possibly transferring, knowing he would have to sit out a year (graduating and being eligible immediately was not an option), but he and Hamilton connected well right away. Hamilton, who coached at Hargrave Military Academy before becoming entering the college ranks as an assistant and now a head coach, admits to being nervous that Mayo could leave, knowing lots of schools would gladly take him for a year, but felt like they connected as well as possible.
Hamilton didn’t just have Mayo play out the string while setting up what he wants for the program long-term, though. He saw the potential for more from the senior star, and pushed him to do it all the way around. He wanted Mayo to take more shots, to be more aggressive and expand his game, and then become a leader, including a vocal one. Mayo also put on 15 pounds of muscle – Hamilton also pushed him to get stronger – and it showed in how he defended inside and made other things happen there.
“I put a lot of pressure on Nick, and asked him to do a lot more for our program,” Hamilton said.
It did a lot for the player as well as the program.
Mayo certainly played this season with a clear sense of urgency. He knew this was his last chance, no matter how much he wouldn’t want it to end. Quiet and humble, he didn’t hesitate to remind teammates of that urgency during the season, something teammate and good friend Lachlan Anderson noted.
“He came back this year knowing that he had a big year ahead of him,” said the junior, who hails from Australia and went to Maine to spend Christmas with Mayo’s family. “He was always committed from the start to take this team to the next level. He’s a very humble guy, a very quiet guy, but he’s also been intense about it. He talks to people about certain things, and he lets them know that, hey, this is my senior year and I want to go out on a big note, so let’s get this done. He brings that intensity every day. He’s been a little different this year when it comes to attacking it.”
That Anderson and Mayo would become close friends might seem almost as unlikely as Mayo’s success. Anderson is far away from home and hails from one end of the earth, while Mayo is from the northeast corner of the country. As much as he has enjoyed playing with Mayo, especially the times he has had him as a teammate in practice, it is off the court where things blossomed and where Mayo has helped him adjust to being in a new country, all while Mayo was in a little different world than where he grew up.
In all, what becomes clear is that Mayo’s success is among other things the product of being committed to what he’s doing, something Hamilton was quick to highlight in reflecting on his time coaching him. He started every game for four years in Richmond and played right to the end, through his own success and not one of his teams reaching the OVC Tournament. Next up will be the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, where he will join other pro prospects, and from there, wherever basketball may take him professionally. It’s already taken him places he could not have imagined, places far from where he grew up in Maine.
When the ball stops bouncing, the Sports Management major intends to remain in the sports world. Naturally, basketball and baseball are the main draws, and in time he will flesh out where he’s meant to be within that realm. Coaching is one idea, but he knows the sports world has much more than that.
For now, he will enjoy his final months at the school he committed to on his visit just months after they won a conference title and remained committed to through a coaching change, a change that benefited him more than anyone might have imagined. It ended a career that will give him a place in conference history that probably no one would have imagined four years ago.
