Former High School Teammates Proud Of Villanova Champion Jalen Brunson
LINCOLNSHIRE, Ill. (CBS) -- A local kid was on the team that won in Monday night's historic NCAA men's basketball championship game.
CBS 2's Mike Parker reports the Stevenson High School student body is proud of one of their own.
Freshmen Jalen Brunson helped Villanova take the championship with a 77-74 win against North Carolina. He started and scored four points in 22 minutes. For the season, Brunson averaged 9.6 points and 2.5 assists.
Back at Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, he's already a legend and the owner of just about every school basketball record, including scoring 56 and 57 points in two different games and leading the Patriots to a state championship.
Today his former teammates at Stevenson recalled his magic.
"His preparation and toughness and hard work towards the game, I got to learn so much from him," Ryuji Aoki said.
"He was our leader, he was the guy that we all looked to for leadership and support," Kevin Yang said.
Former teammate Jordan Newman agrees.
"He's better than everyone else on the court," Newman said. "You have a good chance to win with him on your team."
"We could see right away that he was such a talent but that also he was such a great person and a great teammate and a great leader," said Brunson's high school coach, Pat Ambrose.
Ambrose saw Brunson play for the first time when Brunson was an eighth-grader going up against high school players, He held his own. Now he's doing even better, as he's a national champion.