City of Basketball Love

Sean McBryan (@SeanMcBryan)
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Grant Sareyka is used to playing uptempo basketball; he did so in high school and finds himself doing it again at the college level.

The 6-foot sophomore guard who played his prep ball in Brookhaven at The Christian Academy fits seamlessly into Lancaster Bible College head coach Jon Mack’s system.

The fit between player, coach and school is ideal, and frankly makes too much sense for it not to happen, but it nearly didn’t.

“I was looking at Eastern University, Messiah and Delaware Valley,” Sareyka said of his college decision. “I was actually pretty set on going to Eastern University and then I had a huge change of heart. I was going to major in some type of engineering and I just, I can’t really explain what happened, but it was just a full swing of like ‘wow, I really don’t want to go here anymore.’”

He wanted to major in something different than engineering: sports management. Athletic communications, sports information and being at games interested him. He saw himself in a role behind the scenes, taking stats and doing write-ups of games.

Sareyka had been familiar with Lancaster Bible College as his teammate at TCA, Isaiah Mitchell, was looking at attending the school. LBC coaches would be at some TCA games, although Sareyka’s mind was solely on Eastern. 

Mack had recently become the head coach at LBC, coming over from Southwestern Christian University in Oklahoma. It was his first season to recruit and construct his own team. One of his assistants on the team is good friends with Grant’s brother, Colin, who played at Messiah at the time.

“I started checking him out and I loved him,” Mack said. “I said this is a no-brainer, we gotta get him here. We had him up for a visit and had a long conversation with him and his brother in our office. We went out to dinner with his parents and they thought it was a better fit for him to come to LBC too. That’s how it all came together.

“It really worked out.”

The Charger coaches stayed on Grant and eventually it clicked: Sareyka (and Mitchell) committed to LBC in spring of 2020. He struggled with the flip for a week, but looking back on it now, he made the right choice.

“It was hard for me,” Sareyka said. “But LBC turned out to be the perfect place for me and I’m so thankful. I thank the Lord that he brought me here.”

The Chargers and Mack are thankful too.

Sareyka is tailor-made for Mack’s uptempo scheme. His speed allows him to leak out for easy buckets in transition and his conditioning and energy allow him to play full-court press defense the entire game; that was evident in two late January games as the Chargers moved to 6-1 in the United East and 10-6 overall, picking up their sixth win in eight games after starting the year 4-4.

Sareyka finished with 21 points, four 3s and two steals in what looked like an effortless performance on his homecourt inside Horst Athletic Center in Lancaster on January 22; he hounded the opposing point guard the full length of the court all game which helped the Chargers break the game open with a 16-0 run in the first half after they were tied at 29. It ended in a 29-point victory over United East foe Gallaudet.

He led the team with 19 points and had two steals in the Chargers’ 71-61 win over Penn State Abington three days later.

Back during his TCA days, Sareyka acted as an energizer, running the floor as fast as he could and getting a speed advantage on opponents. Mack emphasized that once he arrived at LBC.

“I have the ability to get out there and beat teams in transition,” Sareyka said. “Day in and day out in practice [Mack’s] always preaching ‘first three steps - get out and get down the floor.’ Those are the easiest baskets you can get; it’s a wide-open layup.”

What he didn’t have at TCA was defensive prowess.

“Defensively is my biggest improvement,” Sareyka said. “In high school I was not really worried about defense at all. [Mack] holds us to the highest standard. I had to start holding myself to that standard, even though I never really liked playing defense. I feel like I’ve stepped my defense up to a whole new level.”

Sareyka (above, left) is averaging 16.4 ppg while making nearly 50% of his shots for Lancaster Bible in his second freshman season. (Photo courtesy LBC Athletics)

It’s tasking for a player to be the one breaking out in transition and then turning around to guard the opposing point guard the length of the court, yet Sareyka never looks like he’s getting tired.

“That’s something that’s really hard,” Sareyka said. “I couldn’t do that my freshman year. It’s mental; it’s not physical. It’s hard to play 30 minutes guarding full court and then running out on offense. It’s something that wears your body down, but it’s just sticking with it and knowing that I’m doing everything I can to help my team win. If I take a rest here on offense or defense, I could cost my team the game. I try to hold that in my brain as much as I can because I don’t want my slip-up to cost the team.”

Sareyka’s slip-ups haven’t been a frequent occurrence as his work ethic has carved out and solidified himself a spot in the Chargers’ starting lineup as a sophomore. Coming into the season, he was battling for a starting role and staked his claim once the injury bug hit other teammate competitors. He’s been a starter ever since and the team is reaping the benefits.

As a freshman, Sareyka was a role player and averaged 8.4 points and 18.4 minutes per game in all 17 games. The team went 13-4, but did not have a conference or NCAA Division III tournament due to COVID-19. The Chargers went to the NCCAA Tournament instead and finished in fifth place.

This season, he has started all 16 games averaging 16.4 points, second on the team behind Jordan Shewbridge with 20.7, and leads the team with 47 steals, good for 2.9 per game.

“Grant has been playing well on both ends of the floor,” Mack said. “It all comes down to confidence. His ability to be able to start and the points that are coming from that will help. I don’t think it’s a surprise to him, but you have to be in his ear every day because he can get down on himself at times. He fights. I think the biggest thing is that he works hard. He gets after it. The effort is very high. When you can play with consistent effort, execution is the only thing you need to focus on.”

Looking ahead, Sareyka hopes to improve his on-ball offense, mentioning he loses the ball too much when driving to the rim. Mack agreed, saying the biggest area he could improve going forward was continuing to add strength in the weightroom and embracing skill development in the offseason, not relying on his god-given talent.

The team will continue to improve as Sareyka does, although it’s in a solid spot already. The Chargers currently sit second in the United East standings and have goals to usurp the first-place Penn State-Harrisburg Nittany Lions, who defeated them 93-76 on January 19. LBC gets another crack at Penn State-Harrisburg on February 19.

“We’re hoping to win our conference,” Sareyka said. “Penn State-Harrisburg is at the top of our conference right now. They’re a pretty tough team. We have to figure out the best way to handle them and aim to play February 26 for a championship. Hopefully we figure it out by then.”

Regardless, Sareyka, Mack and the Chargers can relish in the fact that they’ll have two more seasons to build upon a match made in heaven.

“A big reason I chose to come here was because of the environment of the school first and foremost,” Sareyka said. “Everybody has good character here. It was really easy to talk to the players and coaches and figure out how to adapt and play at the college level.

“The pace of play was also a big reason. I love playing a fast game of basketball. I love getting out in transition and running. I love the hard defense. I like playing scrappy. It was definitely a good choice to come here because they play the exact type of game that I love to play.”