‘Just hoopers’: Basketball is way of life for Inderkum’s Jermaine Haliburton, Jalen Glenn
They are polite and engaging with shy smiles well after a game. This included Friday night, when Jalen Glenn and Jermaine Haliburton relaxed in their weight room, wearing Crocs and sweats and proud expressions after a job well done.
But during the action, the Inderkum High School senior guards compete with the purpose of yanking the other team’s heart out. They are team captains for the best Tigers team in program history, the driving force behind the No. 2-seeded squad in the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs. Haliburton and Glenn are skilled with the ball and can score in bunches.
They will also hit the floor with feet or faces and the same sort of gusto.
Haliburton’s grin was proof of that against Laguna Creek. After a hard-earned 69-55 victory over the Cardinals in a quarterfinal game in Natomas, he showed off his chipped front tooth as if it were a badge of grit and honor.
The gap was courtesy of his head hitting the hardwood in a game often played at a frenetic pace. His tooth chipped and skirted across the floor. Somehow, younger brother Josiah wound up with it and got it to their mother, Anna, leaving it in good hands.
“I’ll have it fixed before the next game,” Haliburton said, running his tongue across the tooth vacancy.
There was no doubt that Haliburton would soldier on, his pal Glenn said. That is what he does and what this season means to every one of the Tigers, who collectively have answered the challenge from head coach Fred Wilson and staff to compete as if their season depends on it.
“I knew he’d be OK because he’s tough — and we needed him,” Glenn said.
Haliburton and Glenn make for as good of a 1-2 combo punch as you’ll find in these section playoffs, focal points for a team riding a 20-game winning streak in a 27-2 campaign. Both can handle the ball and can score inside and out. Glenn is more the scorer, averaging nearly 17 points per game, while Haliburton puts up just over 10 points per game but has gone for twice that multiple times in his career. Haliburton is the lead defender.
“He plays better on-ball defense than anyone,” Glenn said.
Defense has been the foundation of the team’s dream season, in part because the Tigers boast a tall and active lineup, including 6-6 shooting guard Rohan Singh-Sheemar, 6-4 guard Isaiah Chandavong, both captains, and 6-7 post Logan Steuben. Haliburton is 6-2 but plays bigger, and Glenn is every bit of 6-5 with the long arms, long stride and smooth game.
Against Laguna Creek, Haliburton had 13 points, Glenn 17 and Singh-Sheemar 18, including five 3-pointers days after dropping in seven in an opening-round playoff win over Rocklin.
Laguna Creek competed admirably despite being without its top player in 6-4 junior guard Dante Walls, who averages 21 points. Junior guard KJ Ramey had a game-high 23, hitting 3-point shots to keep the Cardinals of the Metro League within striking distance.
Inderkum is anchored by experience. The core group has been together since the eighth grade, though Haliburton joined the program when he transferred from Kennedy High before his junior season.
“They welcomed me here right away,” Haliburton said.
“He came in and I treated him as my brother,” Glenn said. “We’re all friends. We’re just hoopers.”
Hoopers who are ordinary guys who hang out at each other’s houses and play ball in their spare time, though they are hardly ordinary in basketball. They’re much better than that. Both are on the recruiting radar, be it Big West or Big Sky or other programs, right on down to the ever-competitive junior college recruiting scramble.
“They give us experience and they’ve got heart,” said Wilson, the Tigers coach. “They had big games last year and carried us.”
The coach added, “Rohan has been big for us this season, too. He’s making those 3’s in big moments.”
Haliburton and Glenn’s success last season included an 82-74 win at powerhouse Modesto Christian just before the playoffs. MC went on to win the section title and CIF Northern California Open Division championship and returns a host of players that will play at Inderkum in a section semifinal on Wednesday. The Crusaders have been the top-ranked team in Northern California all season, a spot that Inderkum craves.
Haliburton and Glenn will be there, grins and all.