Branch finds a home at MHCC

By James McEchron

From 3-5 p.m., the men’s basketball team spends each week day practicing. They have a lot to be proud of: a strong season with 8 – 0 in the league.

It’s 4:30. Damarcus Branch, a freshman guard, is doing laps at a strong, steady pace. On a team of giants, Damarcus is not quite six feet.

The team runs the length of the court 10 times. He finishes third. “That’s about an eighth of a game”, coach Rob Nielson bellows. He tells them to go down and back once more. Knowing when to hustle, and despite the previous excursion, Damarcus is the first to finish.

“I’ve been playing since I was 5 years old”, said Branch. His breathing isn’t strained from the last two hours of running, dunking, and running some more.

This season, Branch has 198 points, 81 assists, and is 51.1 percent for field goals.
Branch has humble beginnings elsewhere in the country. “I went to school out in Louisiana. Then I transferred to a school out in Las Vegas. They had a great basketball program I came out of.”

Branch moved to Las Vegas in his freshman year of high school. “My sophomore year I was on varsity and a state championship team.” He said he moved around so much for family reasons. “We could start all over, see new things, meet new people.”

The decision to come to Oregon was his own. It also didn’t hurt to have Greg Barlow, who is currently playing at Pepperdine, push to have him here. “Gregg Barlow, who played here last year, called my head coach at my high school in Las Vegas. He asked the coach what I was up to and where I was going to go, and my coach told him I didn’t know yet,” said Branch.

“Eventually, I got in touch with Coach Nielson, and we made plans for me to come here on a visit the first week of June. Coach Nielson liked the way I move.” Pretty soon he was given a scholarship to play for the Saints.

His family didn’t make the move with him. Branch is here in a new place, far from the people he knows, and on his own. “It’s a part of growing up, making choices like that.”

After MHCC, Branch hopes to continue playing basketball in a Division I school, and also further his education. “If basketball works out I’d like to develop a career,” said Branch, “but I’m also taking classes here and there and hoping I figure out what else I’d want to do. I might find I’m better at something else.”

Branch feels strong about the team’s playing. “They’re focused, everyone’s just focused. We practice hard, and Coach stays on us. He doesn’t let us slack. If he didn’t do that we wouldn’t be doing as well as we’re doing right now.”

Branch has enjoyed his first year of college. The experience so far, on his team and in his classes, has been extremely positive. “Right now, I feel like I’m making this a home. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.