UCA boys’ basketball coach Roger Mabe addresses his team during a recent game. (Bob Sutton / Randolph Record)
GRAHAM – Roger Mabe spent time in several roles as a coach of school basketball teams, but he sought a head coaching position with a varsity team.
He said Uwharrie Charter Academy has been the right fit.
“I wanted to get the highest level possible in high school basketball,” Mabe said.
Now he’s directing the UCA boys’ team and his son, Jaxon Mabe, is one of the top players. The Eagles are off to a stellar start to the season.
Roger Mabe said 15 seasons in various coaching capacities gave him a good sampling. He spent time with middle school teams in Asheboro and with Asheboro’s junior varsity team. The past two seasons he was an assistant coach for High Point Christian.
When the UCA position was open after last season, he viewed it as the right time. Conveniently, the school is about a 10-minute drive from his home.
“The time I thought I’d never get a shot, I got my shot,” said Roger Mabe, who’s also a financial planner in Asheboro.
UCA (8-1) has eight victories by at least 20-point margins, including Friday night’s 87-31 ripping of host River Mill. The only blemish came with a loss at Asheboro.
Jaxon Mabe was at UCA through middle school before two seasons at High Point Christian.
“I got a nice vision of what it’s like,” he said.
But returning to UCA turned out to be a good option, he said. That has been the case on and off the court.
“Being able to reconnect with all my classmates,” he said.
Preston Steele spent one season as UCA’s coach, with the Eagles going 10-15. Roger Mabe is the third coach in three seasons.
Three-year starter Braeden Lamb, a senior forward, has been there through it all.
“It has been a wild turn of events,” Lamb said. “You don’t know what system we’re going to run. I like the system we have now – fast paced.”
Lamb and Jaxon Mabe middle school teammates, so Lamb said there was already a relationship there. Guard Grat Dalton, a catcher for UCA’s two-time reigning Class 1A state championship baseball team, comes off the bench. He didn’t play basketball last season, but he said the lure came with the Mabes on board.
Lamb said the Eagles had to adjust to how Coach Mabe wants them to play, but he sees good things ahead.
Jaxon Mabe, at 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, is prone to push the pace and attack into the lane.
“I think we’re going to shock a lot of people,” the junior said.
In the River Mill game, Jaxon Mabe scored 27 points, Lamb had 16 points and Zymorie Sturdivant added 11 points – and they played sparingly in the second half, which was contested with a running clock. Post player Aaron Smith converted a three-point play in the second quarter and left the game with an ankle injury. He didn’t return to action because it wasn’t necessary.
Girls’ game
UCA rolled past host River Mill 63-10 with freshman Naimah Al-Arif scoring 15 points.
It didn’t take that lopsided victory to have Eagles coach Austin Davis pleased with the first month of the season.
“We have a group that has been together,” Davis said. “We have had a couple of good tests. (Our players) know the expectations of our program.”
The Eagles (8-2) have won three in a row, including avenging a two-point loss to Bethany Community.
