Gridley’s Murillo an all-around point guard
Senior’s 3.9 assists per game rank 4th in section
GRIDLEY >> As the Bulldogs’ starting point guard, Tony Murillo has to find a balance between looking for his own shot and getting those around him involved.
“If I’m open I’m going to take my shot, but if I’m not I’m going to make the right play and get my teammates involved,” Murillo said. “I’m not very selfish. I like to go for assists.”
Now a senior, Murillo appears to have discovered the right balance to keep the Gridley High boys basketball team moving in a positive direction. His 3.9 assists per game rank fourth in the Northern Section, to go along with an average 12.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.9 steals. By most accounts, he’s an all-around player for the Bulldogs (15-7) and the numbers don’t lie.
“It’s hard because when you get from (being) a junior to a senior, you think you got to take on a particular role or scoring load, instead of just letting the game to come to you,” Gridley head coach Chay Dake said. “He’s starting to really buy into that aspect of being an all-around basketball player.”
Going into Tuesday’s home game against Paradise, Dake challenged Murillo to stop settling for 3-pointers and instead, drive inside for baskets and kickouts. The senior point guard responded with a 16-point, foursteal, four-assist effort, while making 7-of-8 shots from the floor. In a 65-45 victory, the Bulldogs won their fifth game of the last six, all of which have been by at least 20 points.
“It’s a double-edged sword when you have such a high-character young man who’s driven and really challenges himself,” Dake said. “He also is very hard on himself, so (we’re) trying to get him to battle the mind and really
allow him just to play more freely.”
The Bulldogs returned their three leading scorers from last season in Murillo, Grant Tull and Cameron Erickson. The 2018-19 season ended in the quarterfinal round of the section Division IV playoffs, also against Paradise, in a 67-44 loss.
Murillo called it a tough defeat, and one that “just plays right back in my head.”
“That loss was really hard, so I want to take that going in,” Murillo said. “Now knowing how big of a game that is, I want to come back with a ring this year for our team.”
But now, as the Bulldogs sit in third place in the D-IV standings, they’ve played their way into a good position for the section playoffs, with a little over two week left in the regular season. Still, they’re aiming higher.
Pierce (19-3) has a stronghold on the top seed, but moving up to second place, over University Prep, would give Gridley a chance to play at least one, if not more, home playoff games at Farmers Hall, where the Bulldogs have a true homecourt advantage.
“At the end of the day, if we get that two seed we’ll have a few home playoff games, and when we play at home it’s just a whole different atmosphere,” Murillo said. “Our home crowd is just great. They’re really up and just with us. That has a lot to do with us and how we perform.”
Murillo, also one of the team’s captains, is someone who Dake says he never has to worry about, as it pertains to school, basketball and off the court.
“He’s just a high-character young man, whether it’s in the classroom, whether it’s off the court, or it’s on the court, he always demands excellence, always getting good grades,” Dake said.
“He’s one kid that I’m already just dreading the days where he’s not coming to the gym, because those kids come few and far between.”