Growing up early can make or break a person.
It could have broken Mandy Carter-Zegarowski, who got pregnant in college, yet opted to keep her baby and raise him as a single mother. It could have broken her when, nine months after her son’s birth, her mother died.
And growing up in a single-parent household, an African-American kid in an affluent, mostly white suburb of Boston, could have cracked guard Michael Carter-Williams, who helped lead Syracuse to the Final Four last season.
But it didn’t.
Just the opposite. Carter-Williams, who’s expected to be a top-10 pick in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft at Barclays Center, is more mature than a lot of players who choose to leave college after their sophomore seasons.
“We lived in five apartments in five years,’’ Carter-Zegarowski told The Post. “It wasn’t easy. But I know I’m a stronger person and I think my son is. He learned some hard life lessons early.’’
Most of Carter-Williams’s life lessons were learned on a basketball court, or on the sidelines of one.
His biological father, Earl Williams, with whom he remains close, played at Salem State.
His stepfather, Zach Zegarowski, was a star at UMass-Lowell before becoming a successful assistant coach at Charleston (Mass.) High, the school that was chronicled in the book, “The Assist.”
And Carter-Zegarowski was the girls coach at Ipswich (Mass.) High for a decade.
Some days, Carter-Williams would sit in his stroller with a basketball in his hands, in one gym or another throughout Massachusetts. Other days, he would be fumbling a ball on the sidelines, learning to dribble before kindergarten. Later he would run up and down the sidelines, following Zegarowski’s every move.
“Some kids had stuffed animals growing up,’’ Carter-Williams said. “I had a basketball.”
Carter-Williams initially didn’t have his 6-foot-6 height. He grew six inches in the 18 months after he turned 16.
NBA talent evaluators told The Post Carter-Williams’ potential as an NBA point guard at that height makes him one of the more intriguing prospects in an unpredictable draft.
Zegarowski said the defining moment for Carter-Williams came after his freshman season in high school, when he was getting looks from the Division III likes of Tufts and Wesleyan. He convinced Carter-Williams to attend the Nike Elite 100 camp.
Perky Plumlee, father of Duke’s Mason and Miles Plumlee, approached Zegarowski.
“He told me Michael was as good a player as he saw,’’ Zegarowski said. “He said he plays like a high school senior and that he should be going to Duke or Virginia. I said, ‘Wow, wait a second, Duke?’ He said he already made a few calls.
“I’m more proud of the kid than anything else because of who he is. He’s more of a spiritual, intuitive player than a technical player. I think it’s because of how he grew up. He saw things earlier than most kids.’’
When he arrived at Syracuse, Carter-Williams was behind a trio of talented upperclassmen: Scoop Jardine, Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters, who was taken at No. 4 in last year’s draft. Carter-Williams was glued to the bench.
But coach Jim Boeheim and his staff realized they had a player wise beyond his years, one who was the hardest worker in practice, the first one off the bench to congratulate teammates. Boeheim told Carter-Zegarowski to be ready to change plans for her son.
“He said Michael was probably a two-year [college] player, not a four-year player,’’ she said. “He told me how Michael was a leader in practice and how quickly he picked things up.”
Carter-Williams, a declared Celtics fan, likely won’t be around when the Knicks pick at No. 24. The Knicks need a point guard, and Carter-Williams feels as if this is his adopted home.
“I love the city of New York,’’ he said. “Syracuse has such a big following there. It’s a perfect fit for me. I love the Garden, seeing Spike Lee. That would be amazing.
“But I learned from my mother that life can be unpredictable. You have to be able to overcome adversity. I think I’ve done that.’’