Shawn Echols makes Mills basketball go

But when it comes down to crunch time, there is no doubt who will have the ball in his hands — senior guard Shawn Echols.

He can do it all — score, rebound, set up his teammates, handle the ball under pressure and defend like his life depends on it. So it was no surprise to see Echols toe the free-throw line with his team trailing 51-50 with less than a minute to play against second-seeded Serra Saturday morning at Foothill College.

Now if only teammate Chris Del Bianco would just keep his comments to himself.

Echols said Del Bianco was following him as he walked to the free throw, offering words of encouragement, or so Del Bianco thought.

“It got me kind of nervous,” Echols admitted. “But once I got there (to the free-throw line), I just blocked everything out.”

He hit both. Thirty seconds later, he was back at the line with the Vikings clinging to a 52-51 lead.

Once again, Del Bianco was there to offer his encouragement.

“He came up to talk to me again and I said, ‘Get away from me,’” Echols said.

He knocked down both for the final points in the Vikings’ 54-51 win over the Padres.

That would be the only time he would shoo away a teammate. Echols, the Daily Journal’s Athlete of the Week, knows he needs his teammates if Mills wants to advance to its first CCS title game. But when it comes down to the end of the game, Echols wants the ball. Whether to score or make a pass to a wide-open teammate, Echols -- as well as the rest of Vikings -- feels more comfortable when the four-year varsity player has the ball.

“I look to pass first,” Echols said. “The team comes together when everyone is involved (in the game). Taking over doesn’t mean you have to score.

“We have a lot of players that step up but my coach looks to me when we come down the stretch.”

He doesn’t have to score all the time, but it sure helps. Echols dropped 22 on No. 9 Leigh in the seventh-seeded Vikings’ 68-61 first-round win. He added 16 in the win over Serra Saturday.

That’s not all he brings to the table, however.

“He does so many other things than scoring,” said coach Rick Hanson. “He’s a great leader. A great kid. He never gets down when he makes a mistake.

“The way (Hillsdale coach) Randy Metheany feels about (guard Eddie) Attaway, is the way I feel about Shawn.”

Echols takes most pride in his defense and it showed against Serra. Echols, along with Del Bianco, Marco Gutierrez and a host of others, held the Padres’ three main guards to just 19 combined points. Each averages close to or more than double figures scoring a game.

Then there is his ball handling. Not usually the first-option to bring the ball up, it became clear that he had the ability and mental makeup to handle the pressure Serra usually puts on the player bringing the ball up. He did it so well, in fact, that the Padres used only token pressure, at best, when Echols had the ball.

His ability to penetrate into the paint and elevate over a defense adds a dimension to his game that a lot of teams don’t have. From that vantage point, he can clearly see the court and either make a pass to a cutting teammate or shoot the ball himself.

“You don’t have time to think,” Echols said. “If someone steps up (to defend me), I can make the pass. But if someone steps up, I’ll try to jump over them, also.”

A co-MVP of the PAL Central Division, Echols believed this was shaping up to be something special. A standout on the Mills football team, Echols gave up the sport after the non-league portion of the football schedule to get a balky knee healthy for the basketball season. With the return of 6-foot-8 center Matt Fochtman and Echols knew the Vikings could go far this year.

“I wasn’t feeling devoted to football,” Echols said. “I wanted to devote time to basketball. Basketball has always been my sport. I was born with a basketball in my hands.”

Seems he made the right choice. The Vikings, who finished in a first-place tie with Burlingame, won their first PAL division title since a three-way tie in 2003. Echols came on the scene the following year and immediately made the varsity squad. He didn’t get a chance to hone his skill at the frosh-soph level and has gradually grown to this point now.

“I’ve never been on a championship team (until this season),” Echols said. “And winning the MVP was cool.”

But he would trade all the accolades for a CCS title?

“In a heartbeat,” he said.