Marquese Chriss had just fouled out. He grinned a bit
knowing his night was over, but there was only one-and-a-half seconds left on
the clock. His Pleasant Grove team were moments away from defeating Elk Grove,
64-49, in front of a packed home crowd.
The 6-8 center mildly acknowledged verbal barbs being hurled
his way from the Elk Grove student section a few feet away with a smirk. He
said something briefly to Herd head coach Mat Bradley who he almost bumped into
in his glance towards the Elk Grove cheering section.
He slapped a few hands of teammates, got a handshake from
his head coach, Dwayne Smith, and sat down on the bench.
“Some of (the fouls) I could disagree with but you can’t go
back and change it, so you have to live with it,” he said.
Chriss presence Friday night was powerful , but, relatively
brief that night – he played just under 20 minutes because of foul trouble. He
led the Eagles with 17 points. However, when he was in the game the University
of Washington signee was flying high above the crowd on the floor.
All night long he changed shots by Elk Grove shooters,
outrebounded the smaller Herd frontline and put on quite a show of athleticism.
Once he blocked a Tanner Murphy shot about a foot above the
rim. Despite the cries of Bradley for a goal tending call, which fell on deaf
ears, the crowd emitted a loud “wow.”
In his brief stint in the third quarter he took an alley-oop
pass from James Fox and slammed it through with both hands, much to the glee of
the “Flock”, nickname for the Pleasant Grove student section.
But, moments later Chriss was back on the bench after
drawing foul number four. He didn’t seem to worry. His team was leading 40-26
at the time with 4:42 left in the period and knew the guys around him would
hold the lead.
“We have a team around me. They can continue to succeed even
if I am not on the floor,” he said.
Elk Grove did pull to within seven points, 45-38 at the end
of the third quarter. Chriss was back on the floor and the Herd couldn’t close
the gap. Chriss’ three point play and a pair of free throws a few seconds later
and Pleasant Grove’s lead was back to double digits.
Chriss also sat out much of the second quarter after picking
up his third foul just 50 seconds into that period. At the time Pleasant Grove had a 21-10 lead
but the Herd’s poor shooting (three-for-eleven in the second quarter) couldn’t
make a dent into the Eagles’ lead. Plus, Johan Tate’s pair of three-pointers and
the play of senior forward Mason Johnson helped overcome the absence of Chriss.
“I am having the best season in my high school career,” he
said. “As I am getting older I am feeling more comfortable, doing the things I
know I could do.”
Chriss is pleased the Eagles are 4-0 after the first two
weeks of the Delta League schedule. They are tied with rival Sheldon for first
place. The Huskies trailed much of the game Friday with Jesuit before pulling
out a 61-55 victory.
“We’re doing real good, playing together, playing smart,” he
said. “We’re working on finishing games and not letting teams come back. That’s
something we really got to work on.”
Chriss knows when those two clubs meet up Fri, Jan. 23 on
the Pleasant Grove home court he cannot afford to be in foul trouble.
“I feel we have to compete a lot harder, stay in the game
and play how we can play. That’s what got us to 4-0 in the league thus far,” he
said.
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