Lake Station senior Maurion Turks has become accustomed to playing with a torn ACL.
After all, the 5-foot-11 guard/forward has been doing it for the better part of two seasons.
“If you watch him play, he’s not the guy who just stands around,” Lake Station coach Bob Burke said. “He’s the guy who dives on the floor. He’s the guy who leads our team in taking charges. All the things, all the hustle things you think you’d lose when it comes to having such a big injury like that, it seems to motivate him even more.”
Turks suffered the injury in his right knee early in his sophomore season, most of which he missed. But he played with the injury last season and has continued this season. He even played football in the fall.
Not wanting to miss time for surgery, Turks is planning to get it done at some point after this season, which he and the Eagles (11-1) hope will be an historically long one.
For now, “the heartbeat of our team,” as Burke called him, pushes onward while wearing a sturdy and bulky brace.
“I’m straight right now,” Turks said.
His path to reach this point has been anything but.
Turks grew up attending Lake Station schools. But he transferred to West Side for the second semester of eighth grade and the first semester of freshman year.
He returned to Lake Station for the second semester.
“It was a blessing,” he said. “That was the best decision I ever made in my life.”
Turks, though, was ruled ineligible to play for the Eagles as a freshman. Finally able to play in the Lake Station football team’s last regular-season game and sectional opener as a sophomore, he provided a glimpse of his ability. In those two games, he racked up 28 tackles at middle linebacker and ran for 230 yards and two touchdowns.
Turks was geared up to play basketball, but he got injured in the third game of the season in early December. He initially was diagnosed with a sprained knee, and he came back three weeks later to play in the Eagles’ holiday tournament.
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But everyone realized something still was wrong, his torn ACL eventually was detected and his season was over after six games.
It was a harsh blow for Turks after he had waited to wear a Lake Station uniform for such an extended period of time.
He still attended every practice and game, absorbing everything he could.
“I was expecting a big year as a sophomore, and then I had no choice but to find something else to be a part of basketball,” Turks said. “I learned to be active vocally, and that’s what helped the team. All I could do was sit there and learn from him (Burke). I learned all the small details and just improved that way.
“People around me really cared. They talked to me and kept telling me, ‘To win this game, we need you to be active on the bench.’ Even now, when I’m not in the game, I’m still jumping up and down and screaming. That’s who I am now. Tearing my ACL, it was probably something that was best for my future in sports. Coach said I’m slower because I used to move way too fast.”
Indeed, the foundation for Turks as the glue of the team was laid during that season, and he has built on it since then.
His statistics — 5.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals, comparable to his debut as a starter last season — are well-rounded but don’t reflect his true value to the Eagles, who are ranked No. 9 in the Class 3A poll by The Associated Press.
“Without him, it just doesn’t seem like we have the same energy and attitude about us,” Burke said. “When he’s on the floor, he carries us in a different way. He’s that important to us. He’s not the guy who has all the stats.
“Kids want to be the leading scorer and all of that. But a lot of these guys don’t understand, if you have a guy willing to do everything else, give of himself for the team, that carries a long way. We missed that his sophomore year. He was one of our assistant coaches in a way, but we missed that. If we had him that year, we probably are four or five wins better just because of those little moments that he can change a game by taking a charge or diving on the floor for a loose ball.”
With Turks back on the floor last season, Lake Station went 21-4, finishing in second place in the Greater South Shore Conference to Illiana Christian and losing in a sectional final to Bishop Noll.
Those near-misses have served as fuel for the senior-dominated Eagles, who returned with their roster virtually intact this season and are seeking their first sectional title since 1941, the only one in program history.
“That made us more hungry,” Turks said. “This is our last ride. We’re a family. We all play together, and everyone has to do their part.
“My job, I’m not such a scorer. I’m more of the mental guy. I make sure, if you mess up, I’m going to get on you. But I’m also going to make sure you stay positive. I’m the balance guy. I’m the piece that puts everything together. My stats don’t add up. But trust me, watch me play, and it’s like, ‘Wow, who’s this kid?'”
Standout senior guard Willie Miller certainly notices the contributions from Turks, whom he described as “like my brother.”
“You know he’s out there,” Miller said. “When you’re playing, you’re going to know he’s out there.
“He brings something that everybody can’t bring — they can’t bring the energy that he has. It’s unique. He brings defense. Anything you need, he does it — before practice, after practice, games.”
After sitting out the football season during his junior year in deference to his knee, to see how it would hold up in basketball, Turks returned to the field this school year. He made 65 tackles, rushed for 167 yards and two TDs, had 88 yards receiving and even threw for 311 yards.
“I love to hit people,” Turks said. “It felt great to be out there again, and this year I had a great season. This year, my knee didn’t hold me back. But it made me play smarter, which made me accomplish more. I feel like that’s what it’s doing for our basketball team. Me messing up my knee, I had to accept my role, and my role is to be the hustle guy. I like that — the hustle guy.
“It’s just leadership. I’m very active, and I’m very talkative on defense. If there’s a few seconds left on the clock, I tell guys, ‘We got the last shot.’ I call it out before the point guard calls it out. I make sure I’m on top of things before the coach says it. I’m like a coach on the court.”