Michael Mastro is (unsurprisingly) dominating in the Syosset Vet League

Mastro

After you turn 21, there aren’t many birthdays to look forward to. It’s nice to know once you turn 25 there are no car rental fees, but that doesn’t carry the same cache as being able to drink legally (I go to the liquor store more than I rent cars).

With the added popularity of vet leagues across UH Nation, there’s a new birthday to look forward to after the highly-anticipated 21st: turning 35. This makes you eligible to play in vet leagues, and Michael Mastro just celebrated his 35th birthday before the winter season was about to kickoff.

This has been one of the more anticipated debut seasons in a vet league in UH history, as Mastro was inducted into the Hall of Fame last summer and has been dominating draft and open leagues in New York since 2011. He came into the winter season averaging over 23 points and 15 rebounds per game in his career, and now he was going to get the chance to play against older players? There was the possibility of Mastro putting up Wilt Chamberlain-esque numbers.

While Mastro hasn’t quite matched Chamberlain’s career averages of 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds (quick fun fact: Chamberlain’s worst rebounding season came in the 1970-71 season, where he averaged a measly 18.2 boards), he has been a monster in the vet league thus far.

He did not disappoint in his debut, as he had a triple-double of 28 points, 25 rebounds and 12 assists in an 86-56 win. This would become a common occurrence this season, as he’s had three triple-doubles in his six games in the vet league, and in the three games he didn’t get one, he had a double-double and at least eight assists.

His domination continued last night, as Mastro and Unstuck came away with another 30-point win, this time a 95-65 victory over the Hooligans, and Mastro had 21 points, 14 boards and 12 assists.

Unstuck sits at 5-1 this season, as they faltered 65-44 in Week 4 against Red Storm, where Unstuck shot 29% from the field. Other than that, there hasn’t been much of a struggle (at least, it appears that way looking at box scores). In their five wins, they’ve won by an average of 18.6 points.

Through six games in his vet career, Mastro has averaged 25.5 points, 17.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists on 53% shooting from the field. While these numbers are absurd, it’s not that surprising. Maybe the triple-doubles will slow down eventually, but I’d imagine that won’t happen until after I’m eligible to play in vet leagues (a little over a decade away). Even then, I wouldn’t put it past Mastro to still be dominating in Syosset.