Wiltshire Belongs With the Big Boys : South team: He has learned his lessons well along the way for tiny Southen California Christian.

Shawn Wiltshire wasn’t pushed into basketball as a youngster living in Tustin, he was dragged into it.

He never wanted to play but his parents insisted the fifth-grader join a youth team at the Tustin Boys Club.

“I was terrible,” Wiltshire said. “I refused to shoot, so my mother paid me 25 cents for every shot I took and $1 for every basket I made.”

The money didn’t help. Wiltshire still hated the game.

“My parents wanted me out of the house and doing something constructive, so they thought basketball was the answer,” he said. “I had no skills or even an idea of what I was doing.”

Later during the summer, Wiltshire attended a basketball camp at Chapman College; it was an experience that would turn around his life. Walt Hazzard, former Chapman coach, taught Wiltshire some basic fundamentals that became the foundation for future excellence.

“I started to like playing basketball,” Wiltshire said. “I started hanging out a lot at the gym. Basketball was a lot of fun once I learned how to play the game.”

Wiltshire learned his lessons well. Today, he’s a 6-foot-7 senior forward who will play for the South team in the 25th Orange County All-Star basketball game at 4 p.m. today at Cal State Fullerton.

Wiltshire probably is one of the best players you’ve never heard of. He’s a big man at tiny Southern California Christian High School (enrollment 260 students) in Orange, where he was a three-year starter.

Last season, he averaged 25 points and 15.5 rebounds in leading Southern California Christian to its second consecutive Arrowhead League title.

Wiltshire was the league’s most valuable player and one of the county’s most overlooked players.

“We don’t have a home gym, there was only one other player in the league my size and we never had a game closer than 12 points, so I don’t think a lot of coaches or scouts ever saw me play,” Wiltshire said. “The second-best team in our league was our JV team.”

Wiltshire has been a dominating player for two years against average opponents, but in the last two weeks he has been sizing up his talent against some of the county’s more publicized players.

Last week in the South’s 124-103 scrimmage victory over Saddleback College, Wiltshire impressed several coaches with his outlet passing and rebounding. He repeatedly hit South teammate Scott McCorkle with long passes for easy, fast-break baskets.

“He’s the best outlet passer on the team,” South Coach Rainer Wulf of Trabuco Hills said. “It’s obvious his best days are ahead of him. He’s got those long arms and long legs and runs the court so well. If I were a junior college coach, I’d be all over him.”

Wiltshire said he was nervous when he signed up to play in the Slam-’n-Jam spring league, where he would be competing against such players as McCorkle and Keith Walker of Brea-Olinda.

“I had never played against a bunch of guys my size, so I wondered how I was going to match up,” Wiltshire said. “On the other hand, I was double- or triple-teamed against everybody we played this year, so it was nice to be going one-on-one against somebody for a change.

“I had heard about guys like Keith Walker and Scott McCorkle, but I’d never seen them play before Slam-’n-Jam. I found out I can play with those guys, and it feels good to be playing with them in the all-star game.”