Marshaun Flakes is a 20-year old freshman at Grand Rapids Community College and the leading scorer for the postseason-bound men’s basketball team. Flakes has had himself a phenomenal first season at GRCC, including a record-setting night in January, where Flakes scored an unbelievable 53 points, a performance that will forever be etched in GRCC men’s basketball history. Flakes, who has been a key focal point for the Raiders all season, is a big part of the reason why the team was able to reach the postseason once again.
Flakes’ basketball journey began at age 10 at a Boys & Girls Club in Grand Rapids, where he was born and raised. Many people were introduced to basketball or began playing the sport through a relative or other influence, Flakes however got himself into basketball by playing at a local park to pass the time. The game came easy to Flakes, who was able to score his first 50-point game in middle school. With the success Flakes was having at a young age, he continued his basketball journey into high school at East Kentwood.
“Going to East Kentwood the atmosphere was crazy,” Flakes said. “It was fun.”
At East Kentwood, Flakes had a lot of success including his all-time favorite basketball memory, which was getting into the district championship his freshman year on varsity. East Kentwood is a big school with an enrollment that tends to average around 2,000 students, so for Flakes to be able to get into the district championship as a freshman is a big deal. The success at East Kentwood continued for Flakes, who led them to yet another district championship, this time in his senior season, where he averaged over 18 points per game.
With a successful high school tenure, it was time for Flakes to continue his career past high school and take it up another notch. College coaches began to take notice of Flakes, and he began to receive offers, one being from GRCC head coach Joe Fox.
“I first met him [Fox] at a Rockford game when we beat Rockford High School in 2023,” Flakes said. But GRCC was not the only school on his radar, “I had an offer from Saginaw Valley and a couple of other schools.”
Despite the offers from GRCC and Saginaw Valley, Flakes opted to sign with Jackson College after his senior season. However, after one year at the school, Flakes decided he would be transferring before using any eligibility, which is where GRCC and Fox came in.
“Marshaun played at a really large school, East Kentwood, and played for a really good coach in Mike Thomas, he was an all-state player,” Fox said. “We were aware early on, and tried to get in on him early, but he initially signed with Jackson College. He approached us first after transferring, and there was definitely some mutual interest.”
What made Flakes have a change of heart?
“I really came here to hoop in my hometown,” Flakes said.
Flakes made his presence known early in the season, scoring 18 points in just 17 minutes in the Raiders’ season opener against College of Lake County. Flakes followed up his 18-point performance with a 24-point performance the very next afternoon against College of DuPage while seeing his minutes increase from 17 to 33.
Flakes continued to put up solid performances, but the scoring numbers began to fall early in December, when he was only averaging a little over six points per game and 12 minutes per game between Dec. 1-6.
Then, on Dec. 7 against North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, just 21 mere hours after their tipoff against Washtenaw Community College in Grand Rapids, Flakes exploded for 32 points on 13-22 from the field. Since that point in the season, Flakes has only finished below 10 points twice in 19 games, both of which were nine-point performances. Instead of choosing to prop himself up on his recent scoring outbursts, Flakes instead credits his teammates as what’s helped him out.
“My teammates just keep finding me and trusting me to shoot, that’s really it,” Flakes said.
Comfort can sometimes be the name of the game sometimes in order to start scoring more, but Flakes insists it’s not a comfort thing, “I’m always comfortable, but it can be hard to score.”
Flakes’ favorite NBA player ever to watch is Paul George, more specifically his stint with the Indiana Pacers. But the player Flakes tries to model his game after is former four-time NBA All-Star and three-time All-NBA player Penny Hardaway. Hardaway debuted for the Orlando Magic in 1993, 11 years before Flakes was born, however, the influence remains strong. What stands out to Flakes the most about Hardaway is, “how easy the game looked for him.”
Flakes channeled his inner Hardaway on Jan. 15 because the game certainly looked easy for him then. On that cold Wednesday night in mid-January, Flakes set a school record, erupting for 53 points on 17-28 from the field, 9-13 from 3-point range and 10-12 from the free-throw line against Lake Michigan College. Flakes could feel something brewing that night, even before it looked like 50 points was a realistic goal.
“I told my teammates that night that I was gonna get it,” Flakes said in reference to his 53-point performance.
Watching from the sidelines was his head coach, Fox, in awe of the performance he had witnessed.
“I’ve been at the JUCO level for 12 years and D-III for a couple of years, I had someone score 55 and that was incredible, but it was in a game that was not competitive. What was most impressive was all of those 53 mattered. We were in a back-and-forth and he stayed engaged the entire time,” Fox said.
Directly after the 53-point game, Flakes said in a post-game interview with The Collegiate: “My teammates were just telling me to keep going.” Choosing to give credit to his teammates instead of soaking up the spotlight speaks to the type of teammate Flakes is.
“He’s been an outspoken leader, when he’s not in the game he’s extremely engaged and up calling out defensive assignments. To stay engaged for 40 minutes is important,” Fox said about his star freshman.
Flakes’ leadership has played a pivotal role in the Raiders’ success this season. Last year, GRCC finished the season with a 14-15 record, missing the postseason as well as losing their top six leading scorers. Incoming players were expected to step up this season and Flakes was among them.
“We were expecting a lot from Marshaun,” said Fox. “He was a great player in high school, he was an All-State player, but he’s exceeded our expectations for sure. He’s just been consistently very good for us.”
Since Jan. 15, Flakes has averaged 22.8 points per game for the Raiders, and has seen his season points per game skyrocket from 14.3 to 18.1. But it’s not just the offensive side where Flakes excels, he’s been a premium defender for the Raiders this season too, averaging 1.1 blocks per game and 2.6 steals per game this season. Flakes has 11 games where he recorded a minimum of two blocks and three separate games where he recorded at least seven steals. Flakes played in all 29 games this season for the Raiders and managed to play the most minutes on the team, eclipsing 800 total minutes on the season.
One key part of an athlete’s life is a routine, something they do every game day, and Flakes has a routine, though he likes to keep it simple. He gets some rest and makes sure to eat before games. Flakes is a “big smoothie guy.”
Off the court, Flakes’ hobbies don’t get too complicated either, as he said his schedule is the following: “hoop, go to school and work.” He does happen to be a fan of rapper Lil Baby, who he listens to before games. Flakes also likes to play video games including Warzone and NCAA College Football 25.
Something coaches and teammates may not know about Flakes is that there is a world where he never had himself a 53-point game and a school record at GRCC, and the reason for that is there was another sport involved before he chose basketball.
“I played soccer in elementary school. I just played it because I went to that type of environment, all my friends played it,” he said. Flakes had a good laugh reminiscing about his soccer days, but is certainly happy with his choice to stick with basketball.
With Flakes’ first college season almost in the books, he’s had time to reflect on how his first year has gone. “Individually I would say pretty good, but as a team it could’ve been better, it can always be better.”
Flakes and the Raiders will have a chance to make the season even better with a chance to partake in the postseason. With an 18-11 record this season the Raiders qualified for postseason play and will have a chance to make a name for themselves this coming March.
Through ups and downs, Flakes has never really set himself any goals for basketball, he says he just chooses to live by a quote that he says was passed on to him from other former basketball players.
“Use the game, don’t let the game use you.”
