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Rare Heart Condition Doesn’t Stop One Basketball Player Rare Heart Condition Doesn't Stop One Basketball Player

By Katelyn McCarthy

ANCHOR LEFT: THE SYRACUSE STALLIONS SEASON HAS COME TO AN END AFTER BEING ELIMINATED BY THE ATLANTIC CITY GAMBITS IN THE FIRST ROUND.

ANCHOR RIGHT: AND ONE STALLIONS PLAYER MADE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE COURT…
KATELYN…

REPORTER: JUSTIN MOSS WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A RARE HEART DISEASE TEN YEARS AGO…
AND THERE WAS DOUBT THAT HE WOULD EVER PLAY AGAIN.
BUT HE FOUND A WAY TO OVERCOME THE ODDS.

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REPORTER: JUSTIN FELL IN LOVE WITH THE GAME OF BASKETBALL AT THE AGE OF 5. AND HE PUSHED HIMSELF TO BECOME THE BEST BASKETBALL PLAYER HE COULD BE…TO GET THAT D-1 SCHOLARSHIP.

JUSTIN MOSS: “TRY TO GET THAT FREE EDUCATION, GO TO COLLEGE…UM SO I CAN BETTER MYSELF. ”

REPORTER: JUSTIN RECEIVED MULTIPLE OFFERS ACROSS THE MID ATLANTIC CONFERENCE…BUT THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO STUCK OUT THE MOST TO JUSTIN AND HIS FORMER TEAMMATE.

MOSS: “WE WERE…PLANNING TO GO THERE TOGETHER…AND TEAR UP THE COLLEGE SCENE…THAT WAS OUR DREAM RIGHT THERE.”

REPORTER: BUT THAT DREAM QUICKLY SHATTERED IN A BLINK OF AN EYE.

MOSS: “WAKING UP AT SIX A-M EVERY MORNING TO GO PRACTICE AND PLAY A GAME AND THEN HAVE THEM TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN NO LONGER YOU KNOW DO THE SPORT THAT YOU LOVE.”

REPORTER: HYPER-CARDIOMYOPATHY… A RARE HEART DISEASE THAT SIDELINED JUSTIN’S COLLEGE CAREER AT TOLEDO BEFORE IT EVEN STARTED.

MOSS: “THEN I WENT TO A SPECIALIST IN BOSTON..FOR MY HEART AND AND THAT’S WHEN THEY TOLD ME YOU COULD NO LONGER PLAY.”

REPORTER: HE HAD A DEFIBRILLATOR INSERTED SHORTLY AFTER…AND RETURNED TO THE COURT THANKS TO HIS FORMER COACH….NATE OATS. AFTER PLAYING AT INDIAN HILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE FOR A SEASON…OATS CALLED AGAIN AND BROUGHT MOSS BACK TO THE D1 LEVEL… AT BUFFALO..JUSTIN WAS NAMED THE MAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR IN 2015 AND SHORTLY AFTER… BEGAN HIS PRO CAREER. HE PLAYED IN MULTIPLE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES BUT CAME BACK TO THE UNITED STATES DURING THE PANDEMIC.

KASSANDRA SCHNEIDER: “MIKE HAD HIS EYE ON UM FOR AWHILE…UM WE KNEW HE WAS IN THE TBL DOING A GREAT JOB..SO YOU KNOW HE WAS SOMEBODY THAT WAS ON OUR RADAR.”

REPORTER: THE SYRACUSE STALLIONS WAS HIS MOST RECENT STOP ON HIS WORLD TOUR…MAKING AN IMPACT ON AND OFF THE COURT.

MOSS: “I JUST WANT TO INSPIRE PEOPLE WHO HAVE SIMILAR SITUATIONS AS ME OR JUST SHOW PEOPLE THAT THIS GAME CAN TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU WANT TO GO.”

(END PACKAGE)
REPORTER: ALTHOUGHT THE STALLIONS SEASON HAS COME TO AN END…MOSS WILL CONTINUE HIS BASKETBALL CAREER IN THE THE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT PLAYING FOR THE BLUE COLLAR U REPRESENTING THE UNIVERSITY OF BUFFALO.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Justin Moss first picked up a basketball at the age of five and instantly fell in love with the game.

He then learned he could play the sport he loved, while getting an education. He worked hard to receive a free education. Moss received multiple offers from the Mid-American Conference.

Ultimately, he chose the University of Toledo, along with a teammate from his Amateur Athletic Union team.

“We were planning to go there together…that was our dream right there,” said Moss.

The dream of playing Division-I  basketball quickly got cut short.

“Waking up at six a.m. every morning to go to practice and play a game and then have them tell you that you can no longer do the sport that you love,” said Moss.

He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a rare heart disease that causes the walls of the heart chamber to become thicker than normal. This disease stopped Moss from living his dream, before it even started.

“Then I went to a specialist in Boston for my heart and that’s when they told me I could no longer play,” said Moss.

But after the doctors inserted a defibrillator, Moss was able to play basketball again. With the help of his former high school coach, Nate Oats, Moss attended Indian Hills Community College in Iowa.

After a season, Oats called again when he became the assistant coach at the University of Buffalo.

“It was an easy choice on my end…he was my high school coach and we played good together,” said Moss.

Moss progressed quickly with the Bulls. He was named MAC player of the year in 2015 after leading the conference in points scored. Shortly after, he began his professional career.

He played in seven different countries before moving back to the United States during the pandemic.

“Mike [Sugamusto] had his eye on [Justin] for a while. We knew he was in the TBL doing a great job…he was somebody that was on our radar,” said Kassandra Schneider, the vice president of the Syracuse Stallions.

As expected, Moss made a huge impact on the court and in just a few weeks was named to the first ever The Basketball League All-Star game.

“It’s not easy for anyone to come in mid-season…but he did more than what we expected,” said Schneider.

The Syracuse Stallions were eliminated from the playoffs on Friday, but Moss will be a part of the TBT Blue Collar U team representing the University of Buffalo.

His basketball journey isn’t over just yet.

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