MONMOUTH —  Two years ago, Marcques Houston would have done anything to get onto a basketball court. Or a track. Or a cross country course.

The three-sport star spent most of his sophomore year at Monmouth Academy on crutches due to a leg malady that still has doctors somewhat baffled.

“He lost everything — cross country, basketball track,” Monmouth coach Lucas Turner said. “After he got off the crutches from the first one and was able to walk, he had surgery on the other knee.”

The bottom of Houston’s femurs were inflamed and close to fracturing. Doctors had to take each knee out, scrape scar tissue off and screw them back into place.

“It’s something that’s pretty new, so they don’t know what causes it,” Houston said. “It could be overuse, which is a possibility, with the amount of sports I do.”

Houston is a very busy senior, and not just with athletics. The year spent on the sideline and his upbringing taught the 6-foot-4 Eagle Scout to make the most of his time.

In addition to leading the 3-2 Mustangs in scoring this year, Houston has been actively involved in the National Honor Society’s efforts to feed the hungry in the Monmouth area over the holidays. The NHS prepared 68 Christmas dinner baskets for volunteers to deliver to the local needy. It is also on the verge of launching a food bank at the school for students to take home food to their families.

“If there’s something to get involved in, Marcques is in it,” Turner said. “And not only that, he commits 100 percent to it.”

And he usually commits to others. He’s the student representative on the school board. If there’s a game or meet going on at the school, Houston is usually there, cheering for his fellow Mustangs.

“My mom (Stephanie Boynton) was always all about helping other people and that was something I was brought up in,” Houston said.

He also enjoys entertaining others. A member of Monmouth Academy’s chorus and drama clubs, he played Tiresias, the blind prophet in a recent drama club spoof of Oedipus Rex, drawing lots of laughs and rave reviews.

Turner discovered Houston’s other talents while he was a sidelined sophomore.

“He was my camera man (filming the Mustangs’ games). He might have a career in TV because he was quite colorful with his comments,” Turner said. “That was the year we were 3-15, so there was a lot to critique.”

After spending hours on the exercise bike regaining his leg strength, Houston didn’t feel like he was back to 100 percent physically until midway through his junior basketball season. It’s no coincidence that one he did, the Mustangs became a very dangerous team, picking up a preliminary round upset of Winthrop and earning a trip to the Augusta Civic Center.

In the spring, he won the Mountain Valley Conference 400m title and was runner-up at the Class C state meet. During summer basketball, he worked diligently on becoming a more complete post player.

The results are already obvious this season, and not just in the center’s scoring production (15.2 ppg).

“Last year, he was just a slasher, a one-move guy. He didn’t know he had a right hand,” Turner said. “This year, we’ve not only worked on the left hand, he’s got different moves. He’s reading the defense. He’s seeing a lot of double-teams, so he’s learning not to just put the ball down and score but recognizing the double and being a good passer, as well. He’s second on the team in assists as well.”

“We definitely run everything through him,” Turner said. “He’s just an active kid. When he’s playing, you know he’s out there. He’s got one speed.”

That may have been why Turner could see his center wasn’t quite himself at the start of what turned out to be the best game of his career, a 29-point outburst in a 68-53 win over St. Dom’s.

“I was actually sick during that game. I was puking in the trash can at halftime,” Houston said. “I had a really bad first quarter and then (Turner) kind of pulled me to the side and told me I had another gear. Then I had 16 or 18 points in the second quarter and everything just sort of fell after that.”

He followed that memorable night with an 18-point game in a 75-41 loss to defending Western C champion Boothbay. The Mustangs went into the holiday vacation with a 52-37 win over Lisbon last Thursday in which he didn’t have to carry as much of the scoring load, scoring nine points.

Monmouth now has more than two weeks before its next conference game. With the exception of a Christmas exhibition tournament in Gray, the Mustangs will be off until Jan. 3.

If anyone could use the break, it’s probably Houston. It’s just not in his nature to take one.

rwhitehouse@sunjournal.com

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