Senior guard’s hard work drive and determination drives him to conference honor.
NASHVILLE- His handle on Twitter is “LIL_Savage”. Marcus Summerville of Fisk University used a savage mentality in his senior season to be named to the second team Association of Independent Institutions All Conference, The Jackson, Mississippi native scored 20 or more points in four of his last five games scoring a career high 32 points in his final game of the season.
“He just worked his tail off all season,” said Fisk head coach Kenny Anderson. “I am extremely proud of him. We are trying to build something here and Marcus has used his work ethic to become an important factor on and off the court. We are going in the right direction and he is a big part of that. A few years from now, we will look back and appreciate his contribution to Fisk even more.”
Hard work has always been what drove Summerville. This past November took his drive to a whole new level. On November 25, his cousin Antonio Davis called to wish Summerville a happy birthday, Davis also encouraged Summerville to keep playing hard and making him proud. Three hours later, Summerville got a call that he was not looking forward to.
“I got a call saying Antonio was killed by gun violence,” said Summerville. “I never felt so much pain before. Being away from home and this happening was hard to deal with. I was broken down and didn’t have any energy. To be honest, I didn’t want to play anymore.”
Summerville not being home, coupled with having a game the next day made this time extremely enduring, While his teammates were on the court warming up, Summerville sat in the locker room. His emotions took over and he couldn’t push himself to do what he loved, play basketball. Some encouraging words from assistant coach Russell Acklin helped Summerville to give it a try. Then something happened to bring his savage demeanor to another level.
“My cousin always called me ‘Family’. I heard a voice say, ‘Family, keep balling’. At that point I had a chip on my shoulder for the rest of the season. I really got on a roll because I was determined to not let him down. I owe a lot to my teammates especially the other two seniors AD (Addison Miller) and Ish (Dukes)This honor is the icing on the cake for me. I hope my cousin is proud.”
Summerville ended the season leading his team in points per game (16.7), assists per game (1.6) and steals per game (1.9).
