Jones rises off bench, energizes OSU offense

Sophomore small forward makes gains as a ‘total player’

By Kerry Eggers

The Portland Tribune, Dec 6, 2005, Updated Oct 30, 2009

CORVALLIS Ñ While Oregon State fans are fretting about the slow starts of such seniors as Nick DeWitz and Jason Fontenot, they can rejoice over the emergence of Marcel Jones.

The 6-8 sophomore small forward is pretty much all that stands between the Beavers and a 1-3 record. Without his 15 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes, the Orangemen surely wouldn’t have rallied from a 22-point first-half deficit to overtake Nevada-Las Vegas 69-63 Saturday at Gill Coliseum.

“Marcel is an offensive-minded player who gives us energy,” OSU coach Jay John says of the Los Angeles native, who likely will be in the starting lineup Saturday when Oregon State (2-2) visits the Chiles Center for a date with the University of Portland (2-5).

Jones has been Oregon State’s most consistent player, shooting a team-best .595 from the field and .818 from the foul line. He ranks as the No. 2 scorer with 13.5 points per game and is tied for the team lead with a 6.3 rebound average.

The Beavers have plenty of chinks in their armor at this point of the season, but Jones is not one of them.

“Marcel can do so many good things,” says Fontenot, the senior point guard who has yet to find his shooting stroke this season, hitting only 4 of 23 shots from the field. “He is long, he can run, he can shoot and he can get in there and mix it up.”

A learning process

Oregon State won a recruiting battle with Southern Cal, Arizona State and North Carolina State for Jones, a key cog in the fabled Mater Dei High program of Santa Ana, Calif., that went 59-7 during his junior and senior seasons. Jones wanted to go to either Arizona or UCLA, but the Pac-10’s most storied programs didn’t offer scholarships.

Jones started five games as a true freshman early last season and had his moments, including a seven-point, 10-rebound performance against the Pilots and 14 points against Georgia. But he faded into oblivion when first DeWitz, then David Lucas, joined the Beavers at different times in December.

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