Once in awhile, a player comes on to the scene and completely obliterates all preconceived notions of how he or she could have contributed to a team. Cathedral City (Calif.) High senior basketball player Christian Wilson certainly fell into that category, arriving before the school year after his mother decided they needed to leave the perpetual path of hurricanes in Louisiana.
Let's just say that the early returns have been strong for Wilson and Cathedral City. Through his first two games in the Golden State, Wilson has torched the Desert Valley League. As reported by the Desert Sun, Wilson scored 43 points in his first outing and followed that up with an astounding 53 in a 103-60 victory against Palo Verde Valley (Calif.) High.
Two games and a 48 point average? That will work.
Wilson arrived in SoCal after his mother became fed up with the constant onslaught of hurricanes in Louisiana, where the pair had long lived. They ventured all the way to California because they had relatives there, including former USC and Cathedral City basketball player Nick Johnson.
The integration into the Cathedral City scene has been seamless, with the 6-foot-2 senior emerging as a star overnight. While his first two games have been otherworldly, his new coach insists that the program doesn't expect him to keep up the blistering early scoring pace, though they are confident he will continue to be a productive contributor to the program.
"They're going to start guarding him better, putting more guys on him, so his scoring will come down some, but he had a pretty spectacular first week," Cathedral City head coach Rob Hanmer told The Desert Sun. "It was nice. Our program's got some confidence again."
For his part, Wilson is sitting back and enjoying the ride in the desert, all while trying to live up to the memory of former USC guard Ryan Francis, a half brother of Wilson who was gunned down in Baton Rouge one summer while the two were living together.
"It had a major impact and changed the way I looked at a lot of stuff," Wilson says of Francis' death. "It made me want [basketball] more. It was a big shock, but I just took basketball more seriously and committed to work out more. …
"I love it. I am enjoying myself. I'm waking up to a positive atmosphere, knowing I can do something better in my life."
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