Marcos Gonzales went into his final season at Brother Rice on a mission.

The senior guard was determined to make his mark on the program, motivated to take his team to new heights.

“This year, my motto has been, ‘Legends leave a legacy,’ ” Gonzales said. “I want to be remembered. I want to leave a legacy. I want people down the road to talk about, ‘Do you remember Marcos Gonzales’ team in ’25? He took them to state.’ I want to be remembered that way and be an inspiration to everybody.

“Legends leave a legacy, and I hope I did.”

Gonzales certainly did. The Citadel recruit won more games in his varsity career than any basketball player in Brother Rice history.

Oh yeah, and he led the Crusaders to the best season they have ever had. Brother Rice took home the program’s first state trophy with a runner-up finish in Class 3A.

Gonzales, the 2024-25 Daily Southtown Boys Basketball Player of the Year, averaged 18.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

Time and time again, he put his team on his back, carrying them to big wins.

Although Brother Rice fell heartbreakingly short in the state championship game, losing 55-52 to DePaul Prep in double overtime, Gonzales’ last game was emblematic of his season.

He scored all 13 of his team’s points in the fourth quarter. Business as usual.

“My teammates always looked at me to do that,” Gonzales said. “When it was time to take over games and time to lead, that’s when my team needed me the most. The fourth quarter is usually when I turn it up a little bit.”

That’s an understatement. Gonzales’ teammates, like senior guard Jack Weigus, knew they could always count on him in crunch time.

“Marcos has that ability to take over a game at any moment,” Weigus said. “He’s such a clutch player. He’s done it so many times for us. We have all the confidence in the world that Marcos is going to find a way to win the game.”

Gonzales waited his turn at Brother Rice. His first two years, he learned from older guards like Ahmad Henderson and Cale Cosme.

By his junior season, he was blossoming into a star. Gonzales thanks Brother Rice coach Conte Stamas for helping him get there, and said so after the championship game.

“I told him in the locker room that he changed my life,” Gonzales said of Stamas. “He’s always been there for me. He’s been a father figure, whether it’s basketball or whether it’s life. I can go to him for anything.”

The relationship’s impact has been mutual, according to Stamas.

“He’s been such a great leader of this team,” Stamas said of Gonzales. “He’s a coach on the floor. He’s a tremendous student, a tremendous person. Being able to work with him for three years has been really life-changing from my end, too.”

Gonzales’ father, Michael, was a star basketball player at Juarez. The sport has been Marcos’ passion virtually his entire life.

“My dad, he’s got me beat in points, for sure,” Gonzales said. “He scored way more points in his high school career than I did.

“He’s always been a role model for me. I’ve always looked up to him from when I was 3 years old playing in the driveway to right now, being 18 years old and still looking up to him.”

Gonzales will leave in about three months to begin his college basketball journey at The Citadel, a Division I program that competes in the Southern Conference.

It’s the kind of destination he always knew he was capable of reaching.

“It’s always been a dream of mine,” he said. “I remember in like third grade, the teacher was like, ‘What do you want to do when you grow up?’ I said, ‘I want to be a basketball player.’ And they were like, ‘You’ve got to make it realistic.’

“But I never thought Division I basketball was an outside goal for me. Now that it’s happening, I’m really excited.”