By David Weinberg
There are times in sports when everything aligns.
It’s when the golfer knows the Titleist is splitting the fairway when it’s still on the tee, when the bowler knows the pins will topple when the ball is halfway down the lane, when the pitch looks like a beach ball as it approaches the plate, when the rim seems as wide as the Ocean City Ferris wheel.
Stockton University basketball player Martin Anguelov was in that zone recently.
The senior guard scored 106 total points in a three-game stretch, including a school-record 45 in a 105-99 victory over New Jersey Athletic Conference rival The College of New Jersey on Dec. 4.
Anguelov, a Wildwood Catholic High School graduate, broke a record that had stood for 27 years, since Atlantic City High grad Carl Cochran scored 41 in 1997.
“I was definitely feeling confident,” Anguelov said. “But I wasn’t thinking about records or anything. I was just trying to do whatever it took to help our team win.”
That means contributing in other ways in those days when it seems like the basket has a manhole cover on top of it.
Anguelov scored only eight points in the Osprey’s next game, but grabbed seven rebounds and dished out four assists – both season-highs – in an 81-55 win over William Paterson last Saturday.
“Shooting doesn’t determine whether you play well or not,” Stockton coach Scott Bittner said. “It’s about being an all-around player and Martin has developed that part of his game. I thought the last game was one of the best he’s ever played.”
With the departure of several standouts from last year’s team, including Stockton’s career scoring leader D.J. Campbell, Bittner was also looking for Anguelov to step up as a leader.
Although quiet and humble by nature, he’s filling that role. He mostly leads by example, but can also get vocal when necessary.
In that game against TCNJ, for example, the Ospreys trailed the Lions 97-91 with two minutes left in regulation.
Anguelov drained back-to-back three-points to tie the game at 97-97 with 1:05 left, then put Stockton ahead for good with a pair of free throws.
After making those foul shots, Anguelov turned to his teammates and said, “We’re not losing. … We’re not losing.”
“Martin’s quiet, but the players really respect him and look at him as a leader,” Bittner said. “After each practice, the other coaches and I establish a pecking order and we’ve also had the players doing it. More times than not, Martin is at the top of the list.”
His emergence has been part of a serpentine journey that’s taken him from Bulgaria, to New Jersey, to Texas and now to Stockton.
Parents Valentin and Boyana moved with Martin and his younger sister, Simona, from Vidin, Bulgaria to Cape May in 2015. They had worked in Cape May as J1 students years earlier and decided to move back.
Valentin, a former basketball standout in Bulgaria, now works at The Washington Inn in Cape May. Boyana is a part-time private chef. Simona, 19, graduated from Wildwood Catholic High School last spring and is now a freshman finance major at Rutgers University.
“We lived a comfortable life in Bulgaria, but my parents wanted to give us more opportunities,” Martin said. “I can’t thank them enough for the sacrifices they’ve made and everything they’ve done for us.”
Martin attended Lower Cape May Regional High School for two years before transferring to Wildwood Catholic for his junior and senior years.
His hopes of landing a college basketball scholarship, however, disappeared when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, limiting most high school teams to just five games in the 2020-21 season.
“I had some offers earlier, but once Covid hit, most of the college players stayed an extra year and that took away a lot of spots,” he said.
Martin wound up accepting a scholarship to Ranger College, a community college in Ranger, Texas, which is about 85 miles east of Fort Worth.
Its list of alumni include former Major League pitcher Jim Morris of “The Rookie” fame and former running back Boobie Miles from “Friday Night Lights.”
“It’s in the middle of nowhere,” Martin said with a smile. “There’s a basketball gym, a weight room, a Dollar General and a lot of fields.
“It was a great experience, though. I was there for eight months and got a chance to play against top-tier competition and made a lot of friends. My roommate was from Serbia and there was another kid from Italy. We hung out a lot together.”
Martin had intended to play a second year for the Rangers, but a new coaching staff came in and essentially turned over the entire roster.
Once again searching for a team, he reached out to Coach Bittner, who viewed him as the type of player, and person, who could fit in well with his team.
“As well as he’s played, I’m probably most proud of the way he’s developed off the court,” Bittner said. “He’s an A-plus, -plus player and person.”
Anguelov had to endure more hardship last season, suffering a fractured wrist that forced him to miss Stockton’s exciting playoff run.
This year, plenty more accomplishments await. Stockton is viewed as one of the top NCAA Division III teams in the country and could be a national contender.
Anguelov, who lives with relatives in Egg Harbor Township during the school year, is due to graduate in May with a degree in exercise science.
The possibility of playing professionally, maybe in Bulgaria, looms, as well as some coaching and teaching opportunities.
But for now, he’s focused on staying in the zone, both on the basketball court and in life.
David is a nationally recognized sports columnist who has covered Philadelphia and local sports for over 40 years. After 35 years with The Press, he has served as a columnist for 973ESPN.com and created his own Facebook page, Dave Weinberg Extra Points.
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