Genesis Prep prepared all year for this moment
As the final seconds ticked off and the Genesis Prep boys basketball team began to celebrate the first state title in school history, sophomore Jonny Hillman was lifted off the court by his Jaguar teammates.
Seemed only fitting, since Hillman carried Genesis Prep at times during the championship game.
Hillman scored 29 points in the Jaguars’ 68-62 victory over defending 1A Division II champion Dietrich last Saturday at the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa. Genesis Prep took over the game in the second quarter, and every time the Blue Devils made a run, it seemed like it was Hillman who made the play to stop that run and give momentum back to the Jaguars.
Hence, the post game lift by his teammates.
“It was awesome,” Hillman said. “I’ve watched people do it years upon years, and I always wished to be that kid on the court. It’s awesome to have my best friend and my brothers next to me.”
LAST YEAR, with fewer scoring options on the Genesis Prep team, Hillman was called upon to score more, and take more shots. This year, with more scoring around him, Hillman was the Jaguars’ leading scorer, but his shots were down, and his quality of shots were up. Also, his passing and his defense were nearly as impressive as his long-distance shooting.
“My game’s changed a little bit, being able to depend on my teammates,” he said. “It’s a new team, but we’ve come together and learned how to play together.
“It’s new, it’s a change. Whatever the change is, I don’t care, as long as we win basketball games. I’m going to do what my team needs me to do, and if that’s not scoring as much, it’s passing, or its playing defense. I just do what I can to help my family.”
And, in keeping with this year’s state tournament theme of “Hair,” Hillman cut his shorter this year. It wasn’t as long as, say, the Timberlake kids (especially senior Dave Dickinson, who is growing his out for “Locks of Love”), but it was long enough to flop around as he ran the floor.
“It was just a little too hard to take care of,” Hillman explained.
But the look still remained on the team.
“My cousin (reserve guard Jacob Schroeder) grew his hair out. He lives right next door to me,” Hillman said.
GENESIS PREP dominated most of its opponents — small school, or bigger school — this season. In North Star League play, the Jaguars outscored their opponents by an average of 71.5-29.2.
Genesis Prep lost just four games — two to 5A and 6A teams from Arizona at a tournament at Phoenix, one to 5A Coeur d’Alene, and one to last year’s Washington state 2B champion Northwest Christian.
At state, Genesis Prep rolled its first two foes by a combined 149-88. But, when Dietrich presented a challenge in the state title game — even jumping out to a 9-2 lead — the Jaguars didn’t flinch.
They scheduled tough so they would be ready for this situation.
“We’ve prepared for close games,” Hillman said. “We went down to Arizona, played 5A, 6A teams, we played Coeur d’Alene High School. We played the top teams all year, just so we could get ready for this game here. We were definitely ready for a close game.”
Genesis Prep coach Marsell Colbert said the team’s 2-2 showing at that Phoenix tournament showed the Jaguars they were legit.
“We’re a basketball team like everybody else, the only difference is, we do it a different way,” Colbert said. “We stress everybody working on the defensive end. We stress setting the table, transition. We stress everybody eating, sharing the basketball.”
Colbert pointed back to 2013, when he met with Genesis Prep administrators about coaching their boys basketball team. He actually coached the middle school team his first season, then became the high school coach in 2014-15, their final year in the Mountain Christian League.
The program was sanctioned by the Idaho High School Activities Association effective the 2015-16 school year, their first in the North Star League.
Colbert sounded a little choked up after the Jaguars won a state title in just their second season being eligible, but in reality, he said he was fighting an illness.
“Man, I’m at a loss for words,” he said in the long hallway of the Idaho Center, moments after guiding his team to a state title. “I’m just so happy for the guys, because they have done everything that we asked them to do, and they deserved it. When you get a group of people, and it’s not about them, it’s about the collective unit, this is what happens. This is family. It’s a basketball team, but we consider ourselves a basketball family.”
WITH SUCCESS comes scrutiny.
As a private Christian school, Genesis Prep is governed by slightly different rules than public schools. For one, the school has no rigid enrollment boundaries from within its students must reside — though, to be fair, some cities (like Coeur d’Alene) offer open enrollment in their high schools, despite drawn boundaries.
And there are regulations regarding international students that even Ty Jones, executive director of the IHSAA, admits are “clear as mud.”
Though complaints have been heard, Jones said Genesis Prep is indeed abiding by the rules, but there has been talk about how to regulate private Christian schools in an organization largely comprised of public schools.
“It has been the topic of conversation lately,” Jones said. “We have received some feedback from schools about wanting us to look at the situation.”
Ask the Jaguars about it, and they almost sound a little tired of having to talk about it.
“They don’t know,” Colbert said of the naysayers. “We’re not doing anything illegal. But they don’t know. I would encourage them to talk to our administration, and they can see for themselves. But even if they do that, their version’s still going to be better than our version.”
Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.