The Gift

An already really good Southfield boys basketball team just got better with the addition of transfer Marquel Ingram.

Coming over from UofD-Jesuit – where he started as a freshman –, the 6-foot-2 sophomore shooting guard is one of the state's top recruits in the Class of 2015.

Last year in his first season of varsity ball, Ingram averaged 8 points per game in the rough and rugged Catholic League Central Division.

A natural scorer with a crafty and efficient game, he has the chance to make a fast and forceful impact in the Bluejays' lineup this winter – not to mention the OAA in general –, while learning the ropes from the likes of savvy Southfield vets Brandon Bean, Quinton Arnold, Jeff Greer, Darnell Butler and Earl Swift.

Since his parents moved into the district this week, Ingram was granted immediate eligibility by the MHSAA and cleared to play in the Bluejays' game on Friday against rival Oak Park.

Three-time defending Class A district champions, Southfield got a win in its season-opener back on Tuesday, downing Ferndale 64-55.

The arrival of Ingram provides Bluejays head coach Gary Teasley, who took Southfield on consecutive trips into the final four in 2010 and 2011, a very potent pair of underclassmen in Ingram and 6-foot-7 Isaiah Green (double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's victory). Add them to his large group of multi-year letter-winners and the Bluejays' chances of unseating Clarkston as OAA Red champs have definitely been bolstered, even if it might take a few weeks for things to gel.