Mars basketball’s Austen Wroblewski developed himself into breakout star for surging Planets
ADAMS TWP — From role player to leader. The transformation seems to have come about quickly for Mars junior Austen Wroblewski, but there are no shortcuts in his journey.
A year ago, he averaged 4.2 points per game as a reserve on the boys basketball team.
“I believed I could do more as a sophomore, but the offseason I put in (with Caveman AAU Basketball) and just time working on my own, it gave me a lot of confidence coming into this season,” he said. “I played well in the fall and knew I had a good chance to start.”
That self-assurance has led to more than just a promising start for Wroblewski, a shooting guard. While starting all nine games, he leads the Planets with 21.9 points per contest, is shooting 50% (30 of 60) from 3-point range and is making 89% of his free throws.
“He’s not forcing things. What he’s doing on the court comes naturally,” Mars coach Kobe Phillippi said. “He’s very unselfish. If other teams want to deny him, he finds the open guy.”
Phillippi, formerly the head coach at Springdale, is in his first year guiding the Planets. Having Wroblewski elevate his game to give the team a consistent 20-plus points per contest in the wake of 1,000-point scorer Ryan Ceh’s graduation has been integral to the team’s 6-3 start, including wins in the team’s two section matchups.
Mars is currently riding a five-game winning streak.
Scott Pfeiffer, who served for a decade as a varsity assistant under previous Mars coach Rob Carmody, is now part of Phillippi’s staff.
“I learned a lot about Austen from watching film and talking to Scott,” Phillippi said. “Last year, Austen had one job on the team, come in and shoot 3s. Now, he does a little bit of everything for us. He can score inside and outside and is not a streaky shooter. He’s a shooter, period.
“Defensively, he’s in tune with what other teams are trying to do. What really stands out about him is how hard he works and how prepared he is.”
That comes from how much film Wroblewski watches, which Phillippi says is “hours every week.”
“I look for how defenses play on the ball and off the ball and who the other team’s best player is,” Wroblewski said. “And of course I watch myself to see what I can improve on. I want to be able to keep defenses from speeding me up, stay under control more, and cut down on turnovers.
“I get a lot of work in on the court, an hour to an hour and a half outside of practice, six days per week. Moving into a starting role, I wanted to be a consistent player. What I’ve been able to do shows that if you’re willing to put in a lot of hard work, you can be successful.”
The Planets’ starting lineup also includes point guard Austin Campbell, Will Wilson, Drew Navetta and Ben Detisch. Each has made major contributions to the team’s solid start. Navetta recently hit seven treys in a game, and Detisch had a double-double that yielded 23 points.
“The two things that impress me most about the team so far is how fast we play and how unselfish we are,” Phillippi said. “Our section is one of the toughest in the WPIAL, let alone (Class) 5A. Hopefully, we are hitting our stride at the right time.”
