Column: San Pedro High’s Anthony Hrboka takes three-point shooting to new level

When Anthony Hrboka of San Pedro was on the basketball court as a 14-year-old freshman in 2020, he stood 5 feet 2 and weighed 92 pounds.

“When he’d get out there, some would say, ‘What’s your manager doing out there?’ � coach John Bobich said. “He was all 92 pounds to the best of his ability.�

He has grown to 5-10 and 150 pounds as a senior and became San Pedro’s all-time three-point shooting leader. He made 10 threes in a game twice as a junior. This season, he has a game of nine threes and is averaging 20.1 points.

“He has a work ethic second to none,� Bobich said.

That helps explain Hrboka showing up at 5:30 a.m. and finding a way to get the key to enter the San Pedro gym so he can practice 300 to 500 shots from three-point range before school. He made 101 threes last season as a junior and has 83 this season.

As seen in this photo, Anthony Hrboka was 5 feet 2 and weighed 92 pounds as a freshman at San Pedro.

(Miguel Elliot)

“It’s the preparation before the season and the offseason, and even during the season, making sure you’re getting a lot of reps and making sure you’re comfortable with shooting those shots so when you get into the games, it’s natural and in the flow,� Hrboka said.

He sometimes makes sinking threes look easier than hitting a free throw, though he acknowledges, “Free throws are definitely easier because it’s just you and the rim and nobody in front of you.�

Leave Hrboka open at your own cost, because he made 55% of his three-point tries last season and keeps getting more accurate.

“As the years went on, he developed a quicker release and got stronger,� Bobich said. “He’s improved his footwork. He comes off screens much better. All the details he continues to master.�

During a fast break that ended with Hrboka making a three from the baseline instead of choosing a layup, a San Pedro teammate was overheard saying, “Coach, that is a layup.�

Bobich remembers Hrboka coming out to San Pedro games when he was 5 or 6 and throwing up shots at halftime. Bobich coached him in youth baseball and recognized his competitiveness.

Now San Pedro has 270-pound Arizona-bound football standout Nick Fernandez setting screens for Hrboka, and all it takes is a brief opening for Hrboka to cause damage. That’s what happened at the end of a game last week against Lake Balboa Birmingham, when Hrboka got enough clearance after a screen from Fernandez to make a shot as the buzzer sounded for a San Pedro victory.

“He’s a tremendous player,� Birmingham coach Nick Halic said. “He’s the best shooter in the City that I’ve seen, hands down. The whole team has so much confidence in him.�

Fernandez went to the same middle school as Hrboka and remembers seeing him on the blacktop going one on one against a taller classmate and not backing down.

Hrboka is 17 and still growing — he has three cousins over 6-5. Basketball teams need shooters, and Hrboka sure can shoot, so don’t look for him to stop playing after this season.

“A three is definitely a staple in the game,� he said. “Being able to make threes gets the crowd excited and gets the team excited and is definitely a tool in this new-age game.�