Issue date: 1/15/09 Section: Sports

Junior guard T.J. Marion does everything for the Panthers. He is second on the team in points this season. He averages four assists, 4.9 rebounds and one steal a game this season. Marion is used to this. He did it at Southeastern Illinois College for the past two seasons and at West Aurora High School. (Karla Browning/The Daily Eastern News)

T.J. Marion has been a team player his entire life.

It is no wonder his success has translated this season for the junior guard.

Marion, who has played on successful teams, has helped the players around him improve as well.

And that's something that the Eastern men's basketball team is benefitting from this season.

In the Panthers' 83-63 victory against Southeast Missouri on Saturday, Marion finished with 10 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a steal.

On Jan. 5, he added 13 points, five rebounds, two steals and an assist in a loss against Tennessee Tech.

"He's a team player, he's done everything that we've asked him to do as a coaching staff," assistant coach Chrys Cornelius said. "He has been a team player all of his life from high school all the way to EIU."

Marion, a 6'4" 195-pound guard, displayed his talents at Southeastern Illinois College for the past two seasons and helped the Falcons win an NJCAA Region 24 Championship during his sophomore year and advance to the second round of the NJCAA National Tournament.

Marion averaged 10.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals a game last season with the Falcons.

This season with the Panthers, Marion is averaging 11.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, four assists and one steal a game.

Marion is trying to lead a program that has not made the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament in the past three years. This team also has won only 23 games in the past three seasons. This team also is only one win way from last year's total.

"I feel that we've got to keep playing, and I've got to keep doing what I'm doing to help this team win," Marion said. "Everything will all change with how teams look at us because they'll look at the whole team, not just Ro."

But scouts watching Marion as well, know that he has won three OVC Newcomer of the Week awards this season.

"(Marion) has been a solid addition to the basketball team," Cornelius said.

By having Marion on the team, it frees up junior guard Romain Martin and sophomore guard Tyler Laser to make plays.

Martin, the 2006-2007 OVC Freshman of the Year, has been the team's leading scorer for the past two seasons.

When he has been shut down, the Panthers' offense struggled.

Martin, the team's leading scorer with 16.1 points per game, is certainly being scouted, but with Marion playing consistently, other teams now have to stretch their defenses.

It allows other members of the team to develop and grow.

"I think that our record could be switched around because we lost to a lot of teams (since we made) a couple of mistakes," Marion said. "(If we followed through), we could have been better. In a way, I guess with me having the ball more and being a threat, it takes some of the focus off of Romain."


Ross Meister can be reached at 581-7944 or at rwmeister@eiu.edu.

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