A Yolo County small-school basketball star eyes 3,000 career points. But will he transfer?
Romello Bruhn is a scorer, and he eyes the bucket, victories and milestones with the zest of a young man in his element.
He is a 6-foot-2 junior guard for the Woodland Christian Cardinals, where Bruhn stands out on the 240-person campus in Yolo County for his smile, good nature and good grades as much as his basketball exploits.
Bruhn was last season’s Smallest-School Sacramento Bee Player of the Year, averaging a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section-best 29.6 points, and he’s been even better this season.
A year older, wiser and more muscled, Bruhn is scoring 30.2 points to go with nearly seven rebounds, three assists and 3.5 steals for a team that is 17-5, riding an eight-game winning streak entering Tuesday and sits atop the Sierra Delta League pecking order. He does his scoring damage with jumpers, runners, on the break, at the rim and from the free throw line.
Bruhn played the end of last season with a hockey mask to protect a busted face after taking an inadvertent elbow to the mouth, dislodging his jaw and driving a tooth through his lip. He had emergency surgery to help reattach teeth, and he never missed a beat.
“I couldn’t see to the sides,” Bruhn said Saturday, mimicking his blinders while attending the Sacramento State home basketball game as a fan. “I feel so much better. I can see. It’s been a great start to the season.”
Bruhn recently eclipsed the 2,000 career-point milestone, and in the spirit of remaining in the flow of a game and winning them, he seeks an even bigger mark.
“I want to get to 3,000,” Bruhn said. “I think I can do it.”
But will he do it at Woodland Christian or elsewhere?
Bruhn admitted that he has pondered a transfer to a larger school in Sacramento for a challenge and change of pace, which is not uncommon for a star outplaying his competition at the small-school level.
Bruhn is a familiar name in athletics in Woodland. His father, Chris Bruhn, was a Bee All-Metro running back for Woodland High, rushing for 3,689 yards and 43 touchdowns his final two seasons in 1999 and 2000. He played at Butte College and Washington State.
“I played football just one year, as a receiver in eighth grade,” Bruhn said. “I then fell in love with basketball, and my dad trains me.”
DeMarcus Nelson honors
The only Sacramento-area player to eclipse 3,000 career points is DeMarcus Nelson.
A 6-4 guard, Nelson starred his first three seasons at Vallejo and as a senior to Sheldon of the Elk Grove Unified School District after a transfer to the school before the 2003-04 season.
Nelson scored 3,462 career points, averaging 32.5 points as a senior in earning Bee Player of the Year honors before playing four seasons at Duke and professionally across the globe from 2008-2020, including in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors in the 2008-09 season.
Nelson averaged 26.6 points for his prep career.
Sheldon retired his jersey No. 21 years ago, and Vallejo High retired Nelson’s 21 in a ceremony at Bottari Gym last week. Nelson, 39, looked fit and happy. He lives in Las Vegas but said Vallejo “is always close to my heart.”
Said Nelson in a speech on the floor, “When I was in sixth grade, my dad (Ron) asked me a serious question, ‘What do you want to do with your life?’ I told him I wanted to be a McDonald’s All-American.”
Nelson accomplished that in 2004 at Sheldon, and only Jordan Brown of Woodcreek in 2018 and Andrej Stojakovic of Sheldon in 2023 have joined him on that elite list from the Sacramento area.
Nelson was a Serbia Cup winner in 2013 and 2014, and he was the French League Finals MVP in 2019. His younger brother Darius Nelson scored 2,543 points for Sheldon from 2008-11 as a forward.
Cartwright holds Sacramento scoring records
Nick Khatchikian of Mesrobian High of Pico Rivera, in Los Angeles County, shattered the state record for points in a game when the 6-2 senior guard scored 102 points in 22 minutes in making 48 of 60 shots last Thursday in a 119-25 victory.
He had 78 points at the half against winless Waverly High of Pasadena, which was shut out in the first two quarters, leading to discussion across the state about if too much was too much. The previous record was 100, held by Trigran Grigoryan of Mesrobian in 2003; he’s an assistant coach on the current team.
So, what’s the Sacramento-area record for points in game?
That’s held by Bill Cartwright, the region’s greatest player and recruit, who, as a 7-foot All-American for Elk Grove High, dropped 66 on Sacramento in a Metro League game in 1975.
Before he became an All-American at the University of San Francisco and playing in the NBA from 1979-1995, Cartwright’s feathery touch in the lane led Cartwright to set a state record for points in a season as a senior with 1,232. His average that season remains a regional-record best 38.5, still among the highest in state history.
In his 66-point effort against Sacramento, mostly against a bear of a man in the 6-foot-4, 250-pound Ralph DeLoach who played in the trenches at Cal and briefly in the NFL., Cartwright made 30 of 46 shots and all six of his free throws. He scored 40 in the second half. The Superior California record, stretching from the Bay Area to the Oregon border, had been 64 by Armijo of Fairfield’s Mike Dias, who had 64 in a 90-46 win over Benicia in 1953.
Elk Grove coach Dan Risley said after the 1975 record-setting game: “I called a timeout after he scored his 50th point and brought the team to a huddle. I asked Bill if he wanted to go for the record and he said, ‘That’d be nice,’ so I let him go.”
Cartwright said after the game, “My biggest thrill still has to be our undefeated 30-0 teams and our (section) championship of last year.”
Later in that 1975 season, Cartwright set a Northern California playoff record with 53 points in a 90-72 win over Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland in the NorCal Tournament of Champions event in front of 10,000 at the Oakland Coliseum. Cartwright’s efforts and career helped get the ball rolling for the start of the CIF State basketball finals, which started in 1981.
Cartwright recently wrote a book about his roots and career called “Dream Big.”
Other prolific area scorers
▪ Bill Cartwright averaged 29.2 points in 84 career games with Elk Grove.
▪ Nomo Williams, a shooting guard for River City of West Sacramento, scored 1,093 points in 1985. He averaged 35.2 points.
▪ DeMarcus Nelson averaged 32.1 points as a Sheldon senior in 2004.
▪ Robbie Lemons of small-school Sacramento Country Day averaged 36.4 points in 2010.
Section career scoring section leaders
▪ 2,933: Jalen Patterson, Liberty Ranch-Galt, 2017-20
▪ 2,543: Darius Nelson, Sheldon, 2008-11.
▪ 2,449: Bill Cartwright, 1973-75
▪ 2,394: Jordan Ford, Folsom, 2013-16
▪ 2,353: Adrian Oliver, Modesto Christian, 2003-06
— Cal-Hi Sports and Bee research
THE BEE’S TOP 20
(Records entering Tuesday)
1. Inderkum (19-1)
2. Monterey Trail (17-4)
3. Folsom (18-3)
4. Sheldon (11-9)
5. Franklin (17-4)
6. Christian Bros (18-5)
7. Vanden (14-8)
8. Destiny Christian (12-10)
9. Woodcreek (17-5)
10. Jesuit (14-6)
11. Rocklin (14-8)
12. Placer (19-2)
13. Sacramento (13-9)
14. Natomas (15-6)
15. Rio Americano (14-8)
16. Oak Ridge (13-6)
17. Grant (14-8)
18. Antelope (16-6)
19. Burbank (14-5)
20. Whitney (14-7)
Bubble: Casa Roble (18-4), Elk Grove (14-6), Fairfield (15-5), Fortune (13-7), Lincoln (16-5), Marysville (15-6), McClatchy (12-7), Rodriguez (16-5), Roseville (14-8), Twelve Bridges (15-6), Sacramento Waldorf (19-2), West Campus (10-9).
This story was originally published January 28, 2025 at 12:46 PM.