Steve Serwatka is conspicuous in New York City’s streetball leagues even before he takes his first jump shot. The New Rochelle native is under 6-feet tall, 33 years old and white, making him a target for the boisterous crowds right out of warm-ups. There is no doubt that he is underestimated.
“It has happened in every tournament we’ve played this year,” said Jose Espinal, Serwatka’s coach with R2K. “You hear the fans in the background saying, ‘Who is this guy?’ Usually by halftime they know his name.”
By that time, Serwatka usually has close to 20 points and a handful of 3-pointers. The deadly outside gunner was the first person to ever score 50 points at a Hoops in the Sun Spring League game this season and he did it in back-to-back games. On Sunday at HITS, Serwatka knocked down a record 17 3-pointers – yes, 17 – and scored 60 points in R2K’s win over the Rosedale Trailblazers at St. Mary’s Rec Center in The Bronx.
“You always want to come out and hit your first shot,” Serwatka said. “When you hit that first shot, you get that rhythm, you have that confidence. Then you got your teammates looking for you and you start rolling a little bit.”
That could be the most understated description of a superhuman performance ever spoken. Serwatka’s 15th trey came on a fadeaway from the right wing in which he was fouled. He made the free throw for a four-point play. No. 17 came on a runner in traffic with less than two minutes remaining in the game. The intimate crowd, and even his teammates, were going wild. After the game, Serwatka just wanted to suck down water from a Poland Springs bottle.
“The difference between him and others is the percentage that he shoots,” Espinal said. “He doesn’t miss that much.”
So who is this shooting machine dubbed an “action figure” by Hoops in the Sun announcer Uncle G-Stacks? Serwatka played high school basketball at Salesian and is considered one of the top players to ever come out of Westchester. He earned a Division II scholarship to New Haven, but ran a bit off course and landed at upstate Sullivan Community College.
From there, Serwatka got a scholarship to Division II Clarion University, the alma mater of Kentucky coach John Calipari. He was in the top 10 in the country in scoring both seasons there and is third all-time at Clarion in scoring average (18.9 points per game).
Serwatka, who had cups of coffee in Belgium and France back then, played at the first Hoops in the Sun summer tournament more than 10 years ago, but he had not been seen on the streets since. Five years ago, he got married and four years ago he became dedicated to working out. He describes himself now as a fitness fanatic.
“Once I got married it settled me down a lot and that was kind of my outlet,” said Serwatka, who is now a stay-at-home dad (his wife Gloriana is expecting a second child) and shooting instructor.
At New York Sports Club in Westchester he has worked out with guys like Stephon Marbury and Nate Robinson. Marbury is someone Serwatka works out with a lot and the two have played one-on-one together often – Serwatka says he’s even won a few of those matchups.
“The quickness is helping,” Serwatka said. “He showed me some stuff one on one. Just playing with guys like that speeds you up.”
He made his streetball return in the spring and is now playing everywhere this summer. Serwatka said he’s playing an average of four games a week.
Never mind at 33 he’s 10 or more years older than many of his teammates and opposing players. Serwatka is a better shooter – and more fit – than most of his peers as well.
“I feel good,” he said. “I feel like I’m in a lot better shape than a lot of these guys.”