Bubba Peters has had a grand time playing at Widener

Bubba Peters figured out the college game, and his place in it, pretty quickly when he arrived at Widener University five years ago.

He was a do-everything, 1,000-point scorer at Gov. Mifflin. He could pass it as well as he could shoot it and led the Mustangs to one of their finest seasons in 2016-17.

College basketball was different. Every guy on the court, he realized, was all-something coming out of high school. They all had skills. Everyone could all put the ball in the basket. He had to find his edge.

“You really have to do something to stick out,” said Peters. “One thing I really tried to focus on was my defense, because I really thought that would help me get on the floor.

“I wasn’t coming into a game my freshman year scoring 15 a game, so it was all the other little things that I had to do.”

Peters has an accounting degree from Widener; he is currently working toward an MBA. He knows all the little things add up.

They have for him at Widener, where he’s been a two-time all-conference pick and Monday topped 1,000 career points.

He’s never been a guy who’s taken a lot of shots or scored a lot of points; even in high school, where he was also a 1,000-point scorer, he set up nearly as many shots as he took.

At Widener he leads the team in steals and is second in assists while averaging 11.3 points. That’s what made the 1,000-point milestone so special for him.

“It’s kind of a surreal feeling being able to do it in high school, then come to college and do the same thing,” he said. “It speaks a lot.”

His 1,000th point came on the road in an 82-73 win at Messiah. The location turned out to be a good thing. His parents, Michelle and Jason, were able to be there to see it. Had the game been at home they wouldn’t have been present; Widener is not allowing spectators due to COVID concerns.

It’s the pandemic, or better the NCAA’s reaction to it, that allowed Peters a chance to extend his college career. The NCAA announced in late 2020 that student-athletes would be granted an extra year of eligibility. It was not a hard decision for Peters, especially after the Pride’s 2020-21 season was shortened to just 11 games.

“It didn’t take me long to decide (to play again),” he said. “I planned on getting an MBA. I figure I have the rest of my life to work, I have one more year left of basketball, so I might as well make the most of it.”

He made the most of things at Mifflin, where he was a two-time All-Berks pick and led the Mustangs to 19 wins, their most in 17 seasons. They earned the No. 2 seed in the District 3 Class 6A Tournament, their highest ever.

They might’ve won the Berks I title, maybe even the league championship, if not for the fact that Reading High had one of its greatest teams, and greatest players, in Lonnie Walker IV; the Red Knights turned the Mustangs back three times on the way to the PIAA title.

The memories are all good for Peters.

“Everything about that season was amazing,” he said of his senior year. “That was definitely one of the more fun years I’ve ever had playing basketball, just because it was like a family. All of us were really close friends, whether we were on the court or off the court; (that) really translated to that 19-win season.

“I have a lot of memories from that. Making the district playoffs was an awesome feeling. Obviously, the (three) wins over Wilson was a great feeling. Just being able to be lifelong friends with those kids on those teams. . . we still keep in touch today.”

He’ll face one of his former teammates, Rece Harman, when Widener plays at Alvernia Wednesday. It’ll be a homecoming of sorts for Peters, being so close to home and on a court where he often went to hone his skills.

He has less than a month left in his final college season and admits he’s trying not to think about it.

“I try to take it one game at a time, one practice at a time, and go from there,” he said. “(The end is) always in the back of your head. I’m definitely going to miss it a lot. I’ve been playing since I’ve been walking. It’ll definitely be a sad feeling when it’s all over.”

Peters is on course to earn his master’s in business administration by the end of the summer. He already has an accounting job lined up with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Philadelphia once he’s done with his schooling.

He said his college career has been all he could have hoped for.

“I’ve loved everything about it so far,” he said. “My first college practice, I was thinking: ‘Wow, this is a lot more work than high school.’ But, I’ve gotten used to it and it’s really shaped me into a better person. It’s definitely different from high school basketball in the sense of the time you put into it, but it all turns out to help out in the end.”