Ranger All-American signs to play for LSU Tigers

In order to get in better harmony with God and herself, Baton Rouge, La., resident Nancy West likes to meditate. Getting the quiet time in order to concentrate wasn't always easy, especially 16 years ago when her four-year-old son was playing with a new toy.

"I would be meditating, but then Marcus would be bouncing that basketball all over the place," West said. "It seemed like he would bounce that ball every way."

In spite of the interruptions, West did not stop her son from making a racket. That turned out for the best, because Marcus Thornton has gone to on to excellence in basketball, and the best may be yet to come.

Thornton is coming off a stellar 2006-07 season. He is a first-team selection on the NJCAA All-America squad and the Region XIV Player of the Year, leading the conference with 26.9 points.

Yet getting to this point started with a bit of sibling admiration, and a bit of naughty behavior in his Baton Rouge neighborhood.

"When I was four years old, I snuck out to watch my older brother play," said Thornton, referring to Beanie Thornton. "I found out what it was like to be playing against other neighborhood people."

Thornton got a spanking when his mother found out that he had snuck out, but she did let him keeping playing hoops. While he was still in grade school, West knew her son was special in his sport.

"I say about when he was nine years old I knew he was special," West said. "He was the littlest thing, but he would always go out there and play with the neighborhood kids, the big, older boys."

Thornton continued to grow in his sport through grade school, through medical hardship and heartache.

West said that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000. After a seven-year battle, she received a clean bill of health four months ago, although she said she felt like she was cured in 2003 after surgery and praying. West is a gospel singer that performs as a soloist in churches throughout Louisiana and Texas.

But also in 2000, Thornton's father Lloyd Woods was also battling cancer, which would take his life that year. The three sons that West and Woods raised have since taken West's maiden name of Thornton and she has since remarried.

"Marcus grieved in his basketball," West said. "I think he took that grief and focused it in on his basketball."

Thornton would continue to a standout high-school career at Baton Rouge Tara, which led to an oral commitment to the University of Arizona.

But because he did not make a high enough qualifying score on the ACT, Thornton was not academically eligible to attend Arizona. West said her son was upset, but remained calm in his emotions and weighed whether prep school or junior college was the best option for him. He weighed his options for just about as much time as he could.

"Whatever course he had to take he could do it, but he didn't leave for Kilgore until two days before school started," West said.

Thornton was an instant success at Kilgore. As a sixth man, Thornton averaged 13.8 points per game and helped Kilgore make the Region XIV semifinals. Thornton said he models his game after NBA legend Michael Jordan because Jordan wins and makes key baskets.

"You can't describe his game face, but you know it when he has it," Kilgore College center Landrell Brewer said. "When he has it, you know he will handle business and he will do it."

Thornton also handled his business in the classroom. A junior college player can't transfer to a four-year school without fulfilling degree requirements.

Kilgore College coach Scott Schumacher said Thornton has handled the academic requirements such as daily attendance checks and four-day-a-week study halls well, and is expected to graduate with an associate of arts degree next month.

Thornton said he has appreciated the help, but that most of the academic work was up to him.

"I think that most of it was what I did, about 90 percent of it. It's just a matter of getting down and doing it," Thornton said. "I think that's what it is for most college athletes."

Thornton was successful this season at Kilgore despite frequently being the focus of opposing defenses. Schumacher said Thornton's opponents were constantly, "Bumping him, grabbing him, double-teaming him and putting a box-and-one on him."

Thornton said the worst incident was a home game against San Jacinto, when an opposing player grabbed him by the jersey and pulled him down in the middle of a jump shot and a foul wasn't called. Despite Thornton's best efforts, Kilgore was 17-13 this season and failed to qualify for the Region XIV tournament.

"Marcus never got frustrated. A lesser player would have," Schumacher said.

Thornton's play and grades, brought the big schools back in his direction, with coaches such as Gary Williams of Maryland and Bill Self of Kansas visiting Kilgore for games this past winter. Out of nine Division I colleges, Thornton chose a hometown school: Louisiana State.

LSU didn't make the NCAA tournament last month, but went to the Final Four in 2006.

"My goal is to get LSU back to the Final Four," Thornton said. "I think it's possible, with the players we have coming in with me."

After LSU, Thornton said he hopes he can fulfill a dream of making it to the NBA. This season, Schumacher said that Thornton received the most attention of a Kilgore College player since center Francisco Elson in 1997. Elson currently plays for the San Antonio Spurs.

Thornton said he was honored for that comparison, but Schumacher cautions him about the next level.

"His work ethic has to continue to get better," Schumacher said. "Now he has to take it to another level. He needs to understand that everybody at that level can play."

Thornton said when he gets to the NBA, or if he has another detour that leads him to another path of professional basketball, he is anxious to pay his mother back. He said that his first professional paycheck will go to his mother, even if it is a multi-million dollar check.

Yet Thornton may have already earned something that money can't buy.

"It doesn't matter if he didn't have a penny, as long as he was happy," West said. "I'm just so pleased to see him come this far."

Courtesy, Rick Kretzschmar, Longview News-Journal.


Kilgore College
Sports Information Office
Contact: Chris Moore
(903) 983-8181
cmoore@kilgore.edu