It took Drew Zalescik some time to get his sea legs. That explains the jump he made from freshman role player to his college’s leading scorer and rebounder as a sophomore.
In Zalescik’s case, getting your sea legs is literal. A midshipman at the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island, Zalescik will start one of his two semesters at sea in mid-March.
“We go out to sea and take what we learned in the classroom and apply it to real life. I’ll be going to different countries and working with people with all different backgrounds. It will be a great learning experience,” Zalescik described.
Zalescik’s first four-month sail will be on a Military Sealift Command ship. His second, as an upperclassman, will likely be on a commercial vessel.
Like the four other service academies, the USMMA is free and midshipmen must repay with service time. Graduates repay by working in the maritime industry for a set period or going into active duty in any military branch as an officer.
“That’s what is so great about this academy. There are so many different routes,” Zalescik said. “People that I’ve known have gone Space Force, Air Force, Army or Navy. On the commercial side, if you decide not to go active duty, you can go any route there whether it be sailing as a third mate or shore side work.”
“They are learning different lessons in leadership with everything we do on the court,” coach Rob Pryor noted. “Particularly when you are talking about battling through adversity or sacrificing individual greatness for team success. All of those things are paramount because we’re asking them, when they graduate, to be leaders in the active duty military or in the maritime industry. You’re going to have adversity in both of those environments and I think athletics prepares you to handle it well.”
While Zalescik looks forward to his seaborne assignments, he successfully handled his orders on land. The Skyline Conference named him to its Feb. 8 Honor Roll for scoring 42 points and grabbing 20 rebounds in the Mariners’ weekly two games. It surprises no one back home at South Hunterdon that Zalescik was the USMMA’s top scorer in 11 games.
“The kid could just absolutely, naturally shoot a ball,” remembered Jason Miller, Zalescik’s coach and athletic director at South Hunterdon. “He has a beautiful jump shot. He was a weapon for us because he really stretched teams. He forced you to guard the perimeter because everyone knew that they had to find him at all times.”
It could mildly surprise people that Zalescik was Merchant Marine’s leading rebounder for the year and had three double-doubles, not counting a 19-point/nine-board effort in a Feb. 11 conference win.
“From Day One, he has been a guy that starred on the offensive end. He has a knack for getting offensive rebounds,” Pryor observed. “Once he gets it, good things happen.
“On the defensive side, he has had to do it by necessity,” Pryor continued. “We’ve had some injuries and we’re not that big. He has had to play some 4 for us. You have to rebound on the defensive glass. He has taken that responsibility very seriously.”
The 6-foot-3 Zalescik led South Hunterdon in scoring in all three years, and broke the 1,000-point mark despite playing just 12 games in a Covid-shortened senior season.
A slender sniper as an Eagle sophomore, Zalescik emerged as a bigger, more well-rounded player who could attack the rim. Forty percent of his sophomore points came via the 3-pointer. Just 16% of his points came on triples during Zalescik’s senior year, when he was one of New Jersey’s leading scorers.
“When he was an underclassman, I wrote up a scouting report: ‘If I were coaching against Drew, here is what I would do.’ I talked about attacking the rim, his physical strength or handling the basketball,” Miller said. “He was good at all of those things but there was room for improvement.
“His dad told me that when he graduated, he still had that scouting report over his bed,” Miller added. “He really tried to focus on those things. It showed by his senior year, and certainly now when you look at what he is doing.”
“In my junior year, I wasn’t the biggest so I put on some weight my senior year and started to drive a lot more. The same thing happened here,” Zalescik continued. “I put on 25 pounds. That definitely helped me. I liked to get to the rim and get into the paint as much as I could. If you get the opportunity to get to the rim to get a nice shot, you’re either going to get the layup or they will foul you.
“I had to get my uniform extended the other day. I didn’t realize I put on an inch,” Zalescik shared.
The physical improvements led to mental improvements. Zalescik admitted he had confidence issues as a freshman. “I didn’t have all of our plays down to a T,” he remembered. “The new pace of the game was a struggle in the beginning because in college, the energy is higher.”
Zalescik dove into the playbook and practiced heartily on the new 3-point line. “Our team loved to play,” Zalescik pointed out. “In the offseason, we’d all get together for pickup games. That was a great opportunity to boost my confidence and get closer to my teammates.”
Miller remembers a player who then, like now “was never rattled. No matter what the moment was (Zalescik) was always even keeled,” Miller said. “He is goal oriented. I can see him, as he progresses in confidence primarily more off of the basketball court, being a leader. Whether that translates into the military or the corporate world, he is going to be successful.”
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