Penberthy Hopes His Marks Earn Passing Grade in NBA

NEWHALL —  Can a soft-spoken, scripture-quoting, 6-foot-3 guard from a school with an enrollment of 850 students make it in the NBA?

That is a question Mike Penberthy of The Master’s College hopes to answer someday, but his primary focus is to help the Mustangs make their fourth consecutive appearance in the NAIA Division I tournament in March.

“I think that when you’re in a situation like I’m in, there might be a tendency to try to score more points so you can impress the scouts in your senior season,” Penberthy said. “But I don’t care how many points I score. I just want to win.”

Master’s (8-4) advanced to the second round of the 32-team NAIA tournament last season, but that was disappointing for a team ranked third in the final national poll of the regular season.

Poor defense led to the Mustangs’ elimination. They gave up 108 points in a 23-point loss to eventual champion Oklahoma City, which shot 58.9%.

“The teams that can play good, consistent defense and rebound consistently are the teams that advance to the final rounds of those tournaments,” fourth-year Master’s Coach Bill Oates said before the season. “Offense can only take you so far.”

The same thing could be said of Penberthy, a 1993 graduate of Fresno Hoover High who has attracted interest from the Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks, according to Master’s assistant Ray Farrell.

Penberthy, who is averaging 27.5 points a game, has gained attention for his three-point shooting. But his defense is considered inadequate, based on NBA standards.

“I think offensively I’ve proven I can do it,” said Penberthy, who has shot better than 43% from three-point range at Master’s. “But my defense needs to improve.”

Said Oates: “You just can’t put all your concentration in offense and be a great player. You have to play defense, too, and that’s an area where [Mike] has a long ways to go . . . He’s had stretches this season where he’s played pretty good defense, but he needs to be able to do it all the time. You can’t just play defense when you feel like it. It has to be a constant thing.”

Penberthy, who is majoring in biblical studies, has come to the conclusion that playing good defense translates to good offense.

He says the aggressiveness needed to play defense leads to a more focused approach at the other end of the court.

“Sometimes, you can get too relaxed on offense,” Penberthy said. “You can get the attitude that you don’t need to concentrate that much because you’ve made this shot before so many times. Your attitude is, ‘Well, OK, I shot this shot before so it’s probably going to go in.’ But when you play defense, your attitude is more like, ‘This ball in going in.’ ”

Penberthy’s shooting is down this season.

He has made 44.7% of his shots, and just under 40% from three-point range after entering the season with career marks of 47.8% and 44.1%.

Penberthy attributes his slump to the fact Master’s doesn’t have as many scorers on this season.

He says that has made it easier for teams to defend him and senior center Leo Gorauskas. It has also caused him to force shots in an effort to create offense or beat the shot clock.

“We’re still trying to find the offensive sync of this team,” he said. “As we get better, I think my shooting percentages will go up.”

Perhaps Penberthy needs to return to the spotlight of the national tournament in Tulsa, Okla., where he was first noticed by NBA scouts as a sophomore and where he attracted more interest last year.

“I grew up dreaming about playing in the NBA,” he said. “But I never thought about it because of the exposure or the money. It just always looked like it’d be so much fun to play at that level.”