Although he may not be the loudest or most outspoken of his teammates, junior guard Marcus Thornton’s play on the basketball court has spoken for itself this season. And he said he is playing with a purpose. Thornton’s “role model,” his mother Nancy, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003. “It was devastating,” he said. “I knew a couple of people who had it and didn’t make it, so I kind of thought about how long she was going to be on earth.” Nancy Thornton said she always tried to remain strong-willed in front of her three sons. “They never had to see any weaknesses from chemotherapy radiation,” she said. Marcus Thornton said he is fulfilling his dream of playing major college basketball, and he is doing it for her. “Everybody is always talking about athletes as their role models, but my role model is my mom,” Marcus Thornton said. “She keeps me going. Without her, I don’t know where I’d be right now. Whenever I see her in the crowd, it gives me an extra boost. Her words in my head tell me I have to play hard every day.” The Baton Rouge resident said she watches her son play whenever the opportunity arises, and although she was given a clean bill of health in 2006, she has to limit her travel because of stress. “I can’t put my body through that much flying and going full out and sitting up straight for so many hours,” she said. “But I go every chance I get.” Nancy Thornton has made a few road trips this season but was unable to make the trip to Auburn, Ala., on Jan. 30 when her son scored his career-high 38 points. She asked her son to get her a DVD of the game so she could see his play. “She says she watches [the DVD] almost every day,” Marcus Thornton said, chuckling. “She wanted to see what really happened.” But Marcus Thornton’s road to the Southeastern Conference did not start off as he expected. After playing basketball at Tara High School, he spent the past two seasons at Kilgore Junior College in Kilgore, Texas. While attending junior college, Marcus was named a first-team All American. He averaged 27 points, 6.5 rebounds and four assists in his final season at Kilgore. “It was a detour that I had to take for two years,” he said. “At first I looked at it as a bad thing, but as time went on, it made my game better.” After transferring from Kilgore to LSU, Marcus Thornton said he is happy to be home playing in front of his friends and family. “It’s fun seeing people that I haven’t seen in a long time show up to games, congratulating me for being here,” he said. Marcus Thornton is No. 2 in the Southeastern Conference in scoring, averaging 19 points per game. He has also scored at least 20 points in seven of his past nine games. “It’s a big accomplishment just to be playing in the SEC,” Thornton said. “I think about it every day.” His mother acknowledged her son’s achievement of playing in the league. She said when Marcus Thornton was a child, he always wanted to go to the park and play basketball with the “big boys.” “It’s miraculous,” Nancy Thornton said. “I knew he was special in basketball since he was about 6 years old. God gives you that insight about your kids.” Marcus Thornton’s coach, Butch Pierre, was also complementary of his skills and growth as a player in the short time he has spent with the Tigers. “Marcus is getting his teammates involved more,” Pierre said. “We all know Marcus can score in bunches. Now he’s getting the feel for playing without the ball, and that’s something that he never was accustomed to doing.”
—-Contact Johanathan Brooks at [email protected]