The Barometer Online

Issue date: 3/2/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Andrew Burton Marcel Jones, a junior, has had a breakout season, leading the Beavers with 15.2 points per game and pulling down 5.5 boards.

Four months ago, Beaver forward Marcel Jones fueled a 69-67 victory over Northern Colorado with a career-high 35 points while high school teammate Wesley Washington won the game with a jump shot with 7.9 seconds left.

Jones may not scoring that many points consistently, but one thing's for sure: he is a force to be reckoned with offensively.

Currently Jones leads the Beavers with over 16 points per game, good for fifth in the Pac-10, and has scored in double digits in 13 conference games.

"He's the leading scorer on our team," said point guard Josh Tarver. "So times when he's hot, you have to get him the ball. He scores in bunches."

As a freshman, playing time was limited for Jones, playing behind senior David Lucas and junior Nick DeWitz. Last year as a sophomore he saw significant minutes, and his production jumped to nine points and seven rebounds per game. At the end of the year, Jones was honored with the Jim Anderson award, given annually to the team's most improved player.

"Being an older guy, being in the system a couple years, I know the ins and the outs," Jones said. "And it's always good because when I was younger I had to look up to somebody, so it's a good feeling for somebody when they're young to look up to you."

He might win that award again this year, as he leads the team in scoring and is second in rebounds with six per game. Easily the go-to guy as of late, Jones led the Beavers with 16 points and 3-for-5 shooting from beyond the arc in a four-point loss to Washington State last week.

"Scoring the way he scores, you have to give him the ball, because the times when we have a drought, he's the only guy that can score," Tarver said.

Jones' go-to guy status isn't a new thing. In high school he led Mater Dei High with 20 points, seven rebounds and two assists per game. High school teammate Wesley Washington added 16 points per game as both led Mater Dei to the 2003 California state title.

"We had a lot of Division-I athletes, so obviously you could imagine some of the egos," Jones said. "But we tried to keep it sane, and I was one of the ones that had to keep a level head."

When Jones was a kid, his father, actor Michael Jones, took Marcel to audition for a part in the movie "Stripes." While he didn't get the part, he later appeared in "The Princess Diaries" and "Big Momma's House," as well as Disney's hit TV show, "Even Stevens."

"A while back, I just had to venture out and do some different stuff, had to have fun as a kid," Jones said.

And now as a junior at Oregon State, he has stepped up and taken the leadership role for a young Beaver team that has had a rocky season.

"I have been pleased with Marcel throughout the season in that he has come to play," said coach Jay John. "People are coming at him, and he is still in the top ten in scoring in the Pac-10."

"I'm a natural leader, I think," Jones added. "I lead by example, not just by talking."

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