Cry of the Wolves: Citrus, Altius, Fortius

Forget about the housing developments still taking shape across the street. Basketball is the new growth industry at Riverside King High, and business is booming.

Led by a flashy guard who looks as if he is part of an ABA time warp and a wiry forward who plays bigger than his 6-foot-5 frame, King is on the verge of history in only its second year of varsity basketball.

The Wolves could become the first Riverside County boys’ basketball team to win a state title when they play Mountain View St. Francis at 8 tonight at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

“What a dream,” Coach Tim Sweeney Jr. said. “I mean, how many coaches get to play for a [Southern Section] championship, let alone a state championship, with their first senior class?”

For Marvin Lea, the senior who wears his socks to his knees and his Afro into the stratosphere in a tribute to old-school basketball players such as Julius Erving, tonight’s game is about more than a championship plaque. It’s about putting basketball on the map in a part of town known for producing oranges.

“It’s real important to me,” said Lea, who grew up in Riverside with a finger on the pulse of the basketball community. “Everywhere I go, people say, ‘Well, you’re doing all that in Riverside. But can you come to L.A. and do it? Can you come to Orange County and do it?’

“I’m saying we have just as big ballplayers out here, we just haven’t had the same recognition as everyone else. It’s time we get our due.”

Respect may take time, but Lea and his classmates are learning that with winning come more immediate privileges. Lea got out of class Wednesday to meet with Pepperdine Coach Paul Westphal, among a growing number of college coaches whose interest in the 6-3 guard has increased with each of the Wolves’ playoff victories. And all King students will receive get-out-of-school-free cards this morning at 11 so they have the option of making the 450-mile trip to Sacramento.

Senior forward Leon Rosborough, who has played Robin to Lea’s Batman during this most unexpected season, said the Wolves (30-4) are treating their journey north to play St. Francis (25-8) like a business trip.

“If we win this game,” Rosborough said, “it will really tell people that we’re the real deal.”

Many observers are already convinced after watching King rally from a five-point halftime deficit last weekend to defeat four-time state champion Santa Ana Mater Dei in the Southern California Regional final. Lea scored a game-high 28 points and Rosborough added 13 as the Wolves built a slim lead and then buried the Monarchs down the stretch in an avalanche of free throws.

Lea and Rosborough have formed quite a duo since arriving at King two years ago, Lea from Riverside Poly and Rosborough from Moreno Valley Canyon Springs. Lea came because his sister Markisha had attended King since it opened a year earlier on a patch of land surrounded on three sides by orange groves. Rosborough came at the urging of Lea, who figured the two might be able to make their marks on a program in its infancy.

“All of a sudden I looked up and found we had a pretty good one-two punch,” Sweeney said.

King reached the Southern Section Division III-AA quarterfinals in its first varsity season--a remarkable achievement by any measure--but Sweeney noticed that his players relied too much on Lea to carry the scoring load and take the last-second shots.

That changed this season with the emergence of Rosborough and the development of role players such as Garrett Hilt and Bret Goodman, the only remaining holdover from the junior varsity team of three years ago. Lea’s scoring average has actually dipped, to 26 points, while Rosborough’s average has increased to 16 points.

“Leon’s my ace on the court,” Lea said. “If two people are double-teaming me, I know he’s going to hit that big three or get that big-time rebound and lay it up. I know with him on the court, we’ll be OK.”

Three weeks ago, Lea and Rosborough led King to the Division II-A final at the Arrowhead Pond, where it lost to Redondo Union on Wendell White’s off-balance three-pointer shortly before the buzzer. But the Wolves avenged the defeat a week later by beating Redondo in a regional semifinal after Lea poured in 11 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter.

The victories over Redondo and Mater Dei have given way to some dizzying times on campus, where the school could unfurl a state championship banner more than a year before its first four-year seniors graduate.

Said Rosborough: “It’s really like I’m in a dream now, soaking in all this energy everybody is giving us.”