'This team’s Tyler Herro': Marcos Rosales wins Record's Boys basketball Preseason POY
Over 60,000 San Joaquin County prep basketball fans voted in the Record’s Fan Favorite Preseason Boys Basketball Player of the Year poll.
Close to 25,000 of those votes put their money on Marcos Rosales of Venture Academy earning him the title of the 2023 Record’s Boys Basketball Preseason Player of the Year.
“It’s an honor,” Rosales said. “It’s all-around motivation because a lot of people clicked enough for me to win and just to know how many people are willing to put that much effort into me it’s very motivating.”
Trying to be the Herro
Rosales took that motivation and translated it on the court early in the 2023-24 season. After acquiring some transfers, the 6-foot-3 senior guard has taken on the role of the sixth man for the Mustangs, who have a pretty loaded squad. Last season he was the team’s second-lead scorer averaging 13.5 points per game.
Ten games into this season the lanky guard is a spark from the bench dropping close to 13 points a game on 55% field goal shooting. According to Venture Academy head coach Eric King, his elite-level scoring is due to Rosales staying in the gym 24/7.
“The kid is a gym rat and he just loves the game of basketball,” King said. “ He’s a natural hooper. So with our new lineup, I talked to him about being this team’s Tyler Herro, somebody who can just come in and score. I think with Marcos we have a threat off the bench who can score 20 points any night.”
Accepting the sixth-man role after being a starter is not an easy task, especially in basketball where every player is looking to be the hero. However, winning trumps all for Rosales, and coming off the bench hasn’t stopped him from making his opponents pay offensively.
On Nov. 11, he made Venture Academy history as he scored 36 points, the most any Mustang has scored in a single game.
“I definitely needed that,” Rosales said about his record-breaking game. “I suffered a concussion in the first game and so I came out this game sloppy. You can tell I didn’t practice for a week but I got my rhythm back. And now we’ve been winning a lot and that’s all that matters.”
Mustangs set their sights high
The Mustangs, with the help of its sixth man, hold a 10-0 victory practically slicing through its non-league competition. Alongside Rosales, they have three other guards averaging double-digit scoring in Mario Williams Jr., Cameron Lowe, and transfer DaeLeon Neal.
With these weapons, King is looking to lead his team back to the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
“When I came here, the mission was to just make it a respectable program. And I think that fast forward five, six years later, I think we're here now,” King said. “I’ve always dreamed of it but it’s nice to see it all unfold. Just to see all the hard, the foundation that was laid, it finally comes into fruition.”
Rosales was a part of last year’s squad that made it to the SJS Division 4 and CIF State Division V semifinals just a game away from the big stage. He and the Mustangs' perfect start to the season is just a small step of the long journey they have to postseason play.
The senior will look to use his final year in navy and white to be a hidden gem for the Mustangs who can lead them to victory.
“Winning all these games is going to make us confident,” Rosales said. “It allows us to figure each other out because we still have some transfers sitting down. But what we’re doing now is showing ourselves that no matter the ifs and this and that, we can still win.”
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Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Fan Fav: Marcos Rosales wins Record's Boys basketball Preseason POY
