It was the fall of 2005, Marcus Hall was a 14-year-old freshman and Pete Rivera recognized something special. So the Bakersfield Christian High coach made a request:
"Marcus, you have the green light; we're going to build the team around you."
So the Eagles did, in a four-year progression that found the pinnacle Saturday afternoon at Selland Arena, where Hall, in a seemingly effortless yet sensational performance, delivered 36 points, 11 rebounds and four assists in an 81-55 rout of Kingsburg for the Central Section Division IV boys basketball championship.
"It was all about experience," said Hall, a four-year starter making his third consecutive appearance at Selland.
The first two resulted in losses to Immanuel for the D-V titles.
The third was, well, oh so charming.
The 6-foot-3 guard without a college home -- "Somewhere, hopefully" -- scored 10 points in the first quarter and had 24 by halftime as the top-seeded Eagles (21-7) bolted to a 43-32 lead.
Any chance of a comeback by third-seeded Kingsburg (19-12) was obliterated by Bakersfield Christian's 72.7% shooting (8 for 11) from 3-point range in the second half.
The Eagles finished at 50% (11 for 22) from behind the arc as Hall made 4 of 6 and three-year starter Colby Herron 4 of 9 en route to 21 points.
It got to this point in the fourth quarter: Hall releasing a shot from the left baseline and Vikings assistant coach Jeff Bray moaning, "That's money."
Only this one didn't go down.
"Wow," Bray said, "he missed one."
Hall would miss only 6 of 19 attempts.
"As a four-year starter, he's not going to get rattled," said Kingsburg coach Mark Bray, the assistant's brother. "We knew they had two good shooters [with Hall and Herron]. That's a tough combination to defend."
Compounding the problem for the Vikings was the loss of starting forward Jason Linman to injury (ankle) and the inability of Tyler Bray to find his stroke.
The team's leading scorer (19.2) and son of Jeff Bray, the 6-6 junior center didn't make his first field goal until the second quarter and made but 3 of 14 shots for 12 points.
But Mark Bray is confident a return to Selland will be made by Tyler Bray and others, such as sophomore Nico Cantu, who scored 19 points, and juniors John Williamson (14) and Michael Torres (10).
"We hope to make a few more moves here," the coach said.
A few rules are needed to help foster a feeling of community. We encourage a free and open exchange of ideas in a climate of mutual respect, but any post that violates someone's right to use and enjoy fresnobee.com is prohibited. Before you post, please read the terms of use and obey these simple guidelines.
Here are the ground rules:
Contents of this site are © Copyright The Fresno Bee. All rights reserved.
E-Mail
Print
Basketball Gallery 9: Section Finals
Boys Basketball Scores
@Nyx.CommentBody@