DeMarcus Hall-Scriven
Anchorage’s DeMarcus Hall-Scriven was offered a chance to play basketball at UAF straight out of high school three years ago, but turned it down.
Now given a second chance to sign with the Nanooks, he looks to turn it up.
The 6-foot-4 all-conference guard has joined the UAF squad and will have two seasons of eligibility after transferring from Skagit Valley College out of the NWAC.
“It’s huge. It’s big playing in my home state and just repping Alaska because not a lot of guys come out of Alaska and then come back,” he said.
Hall-Scriven picked UAF over fellow GNAC team Central Washington, citing specifically the playing style of UAF head coach Greg Sparling and associate head coach Jesse Brown.
“They let their players rock,” Hall-Scriven said. “They don’t keep them on a tight rope and the way they want to play, out in space and not slowing the game down, that’s when I’m at my best.”
Hall-Scriven, of ACS fame, averaged 10.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 72 career games at Skagit Valley.
Congratulations to Demarcus Hall-Scriven who has signed to continue his education and basketball career at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks! #GoCards | #CardinalNation pic.twitter.com/1T9Myrfrio
— Skagit Valley Athletics (@SkagitAthletics) July 14, 2022
His scoring high was 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting plus a half dozen free throws in an 81-78 win against Everett in 2001. That same season he had 17 rebounds and seven assists in a 83-78 win over Bellevue.
“When I’m in space and can get to the rack without having the paint all clogged up, I’m able to create for others,” he said.
The Nanooks have had their eye on Hall-Scriven for years, and took a shot in 2019 after watching him lead ACS to the ASAA Class 3 state title.
“Coach Jesse verbally offered me after the state championship game,” Hall-Scriven said.
Who could blame them for trying. His clutch shooting led ACS to the title after he scored the winning basket in the closing moments of a semifinal win and then iced a 56-53 win over Valdez in the title game with two free throws with 8.7 seconds left.
Even though Brown didn’t sign Hall-Scriven, he helped the all-state player get to Skagit Valley, where he laced ’em up for Carl Howell, who also coached Brown.
“If it weren’t for Coach Jesse, I would never have played college basketball,” Hall-Scriven said.
His signing with UAF continues a trend of local players coming back to Alaska to play college basketball.
In the last few months, we’ve seen UAA land Da’Zhon Wyche (West) and Jaron Williams (East), while UAF has bagged Hall-Scriven (ACS) and Isaac Garcia (Monroe Catholic) with a few more local hoopers in the hopper.
Anchorage’s DeMarcus Hall-Scriven scored 750 career points in the NWAC. Photo by Skagit Valley College
“I know it’s big rivalry,” Hall-Scriven said. “It’s going to keep getting bigger and bigger as more Alaska kids become part of it.”
Last season, NCAA qualifier UAF beat UAA 63-58 in the GNAC Tournament semifinals in the first-ever postseason matchup in the nearly 50-year Alaska rivalry.
Nearly all of the key players from that game are gone.
Hall-Scriven is eager to start a new chapter.
“I know now it’s going to start getting even more of a rivalry because like, Jaron Williams is over there, and we played football growing up, we played basketball together, against each other, and he was in the NWAC the last three years, and that was the one team I really wanted to play,” he said.
Skagit Valley never faced Spokane, robbing the city of an opportunity to see two of its rising stars go head-to-head.
Now Hall-Scriven and Williams will have to settle bragging rights in the GNAC.
“We’re going to be going up against each other, both repping Alaska, to see who is the top Alaska team,” Hall-Scriven said.