Vikings star goes viral

Leipsic's Kevin Brandt spent Wednesday morning probably as most teachers and parents did: waiting on a school delay or cancellation text. And he did receive a text that morning. "I was angrily laying in bed, waiting for a school delay and was hoping we'd get one. I was waiting for my phone to go off because I thought maybe we were going to get a delay," he said Wednesday. "I was laying there and was kinda dozing off, it was about 5:55 and my phone went off a couple of times and I thought 'Alright, here it is.' But the text wasn't about Leipsic schools. It was about his son, Mason Brandt, who had played in a basketball game against Arcadia the night before. In that game, Brandt scored a reverse alley-oop dunk on the way to a 31-point, 10-rebound performance. "But it was a buddy of mine and he said 'KB, you're not going to believe this, but Mason is the number one play on SportsCenter Top 10 plays with that dunk.' I text him back, 'No way, you've gotta be kidding me,'" Kevin said. "I knew I had missed it because it was already six-o-clock and I couldn't remember if ESPN was half-hour segments or an hour segment, so I waited 'til 6:30 (a.m.) rolled around and they didn't show it. That's when he woke up Mason and the rest of his family. "I was sleeping and my alarm just started going off; and my dad came downstairs, woke me up real quick and told me to hurry up and get upstairs and watch this," Mason said. "I ran upstairs, and I was kind of surprised after it wasn't the 10th one, wasn't number five, wasn't the second one, and it was pretty crazy it was number one." "We've been talking about how to get Mason's name out there a little bit because we almost feel like we get coverage locally, but Mason's the type of player you'd like the entire state to see what he can do and Mason's not gonna put himself out there," Leipsic's head coach Chris Kuhlman said Wednesday. "So last night, I thought this was another crazy play Mason has made and let's just put it out there. I didn't tag ESPN or Sportscenter or anything, I just threw on a hashtag and enough people saw it and liked it. "I woke this morning not knowing anything about it with like 93 text messages and notifications that Mason was the number one play on SportsCenter. It's kind of amazing how social media works." And despite ESPN anchor Zubin Mehenti pronouncing it as 'Leap-sick', it's brought the small town even closer together. "It's so awesome to put the town of Leipsic on the map in such an awesome light," Kevin said. "Our team is working so hard this season and is really buying into what we're trying to do. Everybody is just so excited to see Mason on ESPN. The whole community — Facebook, Twitter and everything else — has been amazing. We really appreciate the backing we've gotten in this area." But Mason Brandt is more than just one viral SportsCenter clip. In his final season wearing a Viking jersey, the 6-foot-4 senior is having his best season to date, averaging 28.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game through 17 games. He's scored 20-plus points in all but one game this season. In that game, he finished with 19. His junior season wasn't too shabby, either. He averaged 17.2 points per game with 6.1 rebounds on the way to a first-team All-BVC selection. It's certainly been a work in progress since first stepping on the hardwood six years ago, but Brandt has seriously shined in these last two seasons. "I think Day 1 as in when he came into our program as a seventh-grader until now (the difference) would be his physical confidence," Kuhlman said. "What I mean by that is that he was kind of a smaller kid growing up. I remember when he was a freshman, he would argue with me if he was 5-7 or 5-8. By the time he was a junior, he was a 6-foot kid, and he was kind of slight. "By the time that summer rolled around, he had grown to 6-4 of 6-5 and his confidence, his size and his ability to bang into the post has been the biggest improvement from the beginning to the end. But as far as — in my opinion, his biggest improvement this year — has been letting the game come to him and knowing when it's time for him to make a couple of plays." "I would say I've grown a ton mentally as well. I try not to let the small things affect me on the court," Mason said. "Working in the summer helped me improve my skill set as well. I try to get into the gym last summer and all my percentages are up from last year. I'm able to get to the rim easier, I think I'm a better finisher and I can create my own shot. But I definitely think that my mindset I've improved." It's not like it's been a secret, either. For the last two seasons, Mason Brandt has been the featured player in everything Leipsic has done. Instead of shying away from that pressure, he basks in it. "I don't really feel too much pressure because I love it. This is what I wanted when I came into high school, I wanted to be that guy. But I don't feel too much pressure," Mason said. "I think seeing my growth over the past few years, helps push me (to get better), especially in the past two years. I feel like all the hard work I had put in has been paying off." This comes back to that patience his coach says he has grown over the last two seasons. "I think he's done a great job of accepting the way the other teams are gonna play him. Like last year, for instance, there were going to be nights where he couldn't score; but he'd get eight-to-ten assists because of the way teams played him," Kuhlman said. "I think that's big of a high school kid to know when other teams are going to do everything they can to take you away and you have to be mature enough to make that decision." While there may only be about two months left in Mason's high school career, his basketball career is just getting started. He'll soon be donning the orange and black for the University of Findlay. And he'll be ready for that challenge as well. "They can expect a kid who's going to work their butt off every single day. A kid who's looking to improve and get better every single day, Mason said. "Somebody who just makes everyone around him better and wants what's best for everyone. I want to be known for being more than just a scorer at Findlay because I want to be able to do it all. I want to be a team guy and feed into the tradition of Findlay basketball." And maybe while he's an Oiler, he'll have a few more plays that make it on SportsCenter. Here is the clip of Brandt's play.