As Marcus Wallace Jr. can tell you, there’s no place like home. Just no place like home.
An athletic 6-foot-6 junior, at times seemingly capable of defying gravity, Wallace is playing for his third program in three seasons. But he’s delighted to have found that home at East Aurora.
The forward/center played his freshman year at West Aurora and last season at Metea Valley.
“It’s very weird, getting used to new people every single time I go somewhere,” Wallace said. “But I’m staying put now. I’ll be here next year.”
That’s good news for East Aurora coach Rick Robinson, whose team continues to struggle through serious growing pains.
Wallace teams up with 6-4 junior forward Davion Jackson and 6-5 senior forward/center Jaiyon Spivey to give the Tomcats a solid foundation in the frontcourt. Each of the big three are capable of putting up double-doubles in points and rebounds with relative ease.
East Aurora continues to struggle with its backcourt, though, as the regular season winds down. It was the case again Thursday night in a nail-biting 72-71 Upstate Eight West loss to Streamwood.
The frontcourt trio was pretty much on target for visiting East Aurora (8-20, 5-7). Jackson scored a game-high 21 points with 11 rebounds, while Wallace put up 19 points and 11 rebounds and Spivey added 12 points and five rebounds despite battling foul trouble.
Anthony Chavez, a 6-0 senior guard/forward who is now more of the latter than former, added 10 points and nine rebounds.
The thing that made the difference for the host Sabres, however, came from 3-point range.
Streamwood (7-22, 3-9) placed five players in double figures and outscored East Aurora 33-15 from beyond the arc, making 11 3-pointers to the Tomcats’ five.
“They had nothing to lose, so why not shoot them?” Robinson said. “They got the opportunity and seized the moment.”
Junior guard Jaelin Tate connected on five 3-pointers for his 15 points to lead Streamwood. Sophomore guard Byron Walton added a team-high 17 points, including two 3-pointers.
Wallace, meanwhile, said it has been somewhat of a transition season for him.
“I was more of a wing last year, but at the same time, I don’t think we had really many tough opponents as sophomores,” Wallace said. “I was just pounding the ball and getting to the rim.
“There were plays we would work on. I just want to get more used to playing inside.”
It also has been a point of emphasis from the 6-9 Robinson, who did most of his damage playing inside at East Aurora and Eastern Illinois.
“My expectations may be a little higher than what Marcus has for himself,” Robinson said. “I’m expecting him to come in there and do some things, but he has recently wanted to fall away to that corner and shoot jump shots instead of trying to put work in around the post.
“He’s got a nice little jump shot, true enough, but at the same times he’s depending more on that than he is on his inside game.”
Against Streamwood, however, Wallace did plenty of damage from close in.
He scored in the first quarter on a tip-in, polished off a dunk on a putback in the second quarter and then drove the baseline for another dunk in the fourth.
Wallace also shot 5 of 7 from the free-throw line.
“I feel like I’m more competitive because of this team,” Wallace said. “But you know, there’s just times that spark doesn’t happen. I feel like ever since being here, I’m working harder than I did on my other teams.”
He likes Robinson’s coaching style, too.
“He talks to us not like we’re kids but young men,” Wallace said. “More like being a man, and that transfers to basketball. There’s some pride. I’ve taken away more than than just basketball.”
