When Antoine Mason walked across the stage at Niagara’s graduation in 2014, he knew he had a choice to make.

The nation’s second-leading scorer could use his fifth year of eligibility to play for second-year head coach Chris Casey on a Purple Eagles team that just went 7-26. He could put up 25.6 points per game in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference again or he could have a more balanced role on a power-conference team that draws the eyes of more NBA scouts.

But that’s not exactly how the decision was laid out.

“He said he was going to play less minutes,” said Anthony Mason, referring to Casey’s plan for his son. “And he wanted him to score less, which made absolutely no sense to me or nobody else.”

After being faced with the prospect of playing a lesser role on a team in which he was the best player, Mason made a decision to maximize his final year of eligibility.

Now an Auburn Tiger, Mason knows playing in the Southeastern Conference will get him more NBA exposure, despite the fact he won’t be scoring in the mid-20s every game. He wants to prove to people, most importantly professional scouts, that he’s not simply a scorer and can adjust his game to fit into a better team.

“He just saw me as a lesser minutes, lesser role, lesser points guy,” Mason said of Casey. “I thought me, being my last year, that’s not going to be my best decision.”

Mason’s 25.6 points per game was the second highest average in Division I, next to Creighton’s Doug McDermott’s 26.7 scoring average last year. But he didn’t really start playing serious competitive basketball until AAU in his junior year of high school, said Latifa Whitlock, Mason’s mother.

Growing up watching his dad play for the New York Knicks, Antoine always had a ball in his hand but played “everything.” Whitlock didn’t want him to choose basketball just because of his father.

But time on the T-ball diamonds and soccer fields were replaced by time on the hardwood, and scoring 28 points in a high school basketball game his sophomore year proved to Mason that it was his sport.

“I felt like it came naturally,” Mason said of his scoring ability. “It was just easy for me.”

That innate ability to put the ball in the basket was on display in his senior year at Niagara, which made it that much stranger when Casey told Mason he’d play less, need to score fewer points and have to take on a smaller role if he was to use his fifth year.

Mason said Casey didn’t have a reason for the proposed plan, but that it was probably because he was a new coach. Whitlock said Casey wanting to give playing time to his first full crop of incoming recruits may have played into her son’s decision.

Knowing he had one last shot to impress NBA scouts, Mason chose to head to Auburn and play for first-year head coach Bruce Pearl.

Anthony Mason said if his son was transferring to a school that was coached any way like he was last year at Niagara, he wouldn’t even be coming back to college. But Pearl’s system will be good for Mason and force him to fit into an offense that doesn’t revolve around him.

“I would expect him to be one of our leading scorers but I don’t anticipate that he will put up those types of numbers, not just because of the level, but the role he will play on our team,” Pearl said at Auburn’s media day. “We’re going to have more balance than they did at Niagara. He could score more for us but my teams have always been fairly balanced.”

Mason said he’s been hearing the same questions from a couple people, “Can you play on this level?” “Are you going to be respected on this level?”

The common perception that he’s simply a scorer needs to be thrown out the window, Mason said. He wants to prove that setting up teammates to score like he has makes him equally as valuable of an asset as putting up 25.6 points per game does.

“I feel like I have better teammates (at Auburn), but I always feel like I’ve got to play my part as well,” Mason said. “If I can get my teammates involved and get them going, I don’t need a lot of shots.”

Pearl knows Mason can play a more balanced game. Anthony Mason said his son has always been a well-rounded player.

Now all that’s left is to prove to NBA scouts and everyone else is that he’s not just a scorer, but someone who can do it all on a bigger stage.

Said Mason: “It’s going to be, ‘Oh, he can play at any type of level.’”