St. Viator’s Henry Marshall is riding the train to success.

Both on and off the basketball court.

Marshall is a three-year starter for the Lions. He is coming off a pair of wins Monday for the Lions where he scored 52 points.

With the huge day, Marshall is now averaging nearly 16 points per game and has helped St. Viator (15-5, 5-0 in the East Suburban Catholic League) win its last nine games.

It is not just his play that has highlighted his four years as St. Viator. It is his ability to overcome obstacles in his personal life and become one of the top academic students in the school.

That’s why Marshall’s journey and his selection and acceptance at MIT has made him so special.

“He’s a kid who obviously stands out on the court,” St. Viator coach Michael O’Keeffe said. “But his future beyond high school and beyond college is through the roof. He can really do anything he wants in this world. He's that intelligent, that mature and that resilient and is driven to succeed.”

Marshall came to Viator as a freshman after playing basketball on the school’s feeder team. He moved up to varsity his sophomore year and was instant success.

But later that year, his father became seriously ill and was hospitalized. With his dad not able to live on his own, Marshall and his brother, who were living in Palatine at that time, moved to Chicago to live with his mother.

Marshall looked at schools in Chicago. His search was not predicated on the school’s basketball success, rather it was based on his strong academic pursuits as well.

“After the season ended, I was looking at some schools in the city,” Marshall said. “I was looking at mostly the selective Chicago Public schools like Lane Tech, Walter Payton and Northside College. I wanted to keep that high level of education. But at the end of the day, I sat down with my family. We had a conversation, and we decided that Viator was still going to be the best option for me.”

But it was going to take some sacrifice for Marshall, since there was no direct route from his home in the city to St. Viator.

So the commute became a long and arduous one. It usually lasted about an hour and a half each way at the beginning. And in the beginning, none of them were by car.

He began with a bus ride to the Jefferson Park train station and then a train ride out to Arlington Heights. From there, he could catch a ride to the school. Then, after basketball or track practice ended, he would leave at 7:15 at night, usually arriving home just before 9 p.m.

Not only did Marshall adapt to the long days and brutal schedule, but he also flourished beyond anyone’s hopes.

“He has taken every AP class under the sun,” explained O’Keeffe. “He is up until one or two in the morning every night studying and doing schoolwork. Then he is up at 5 to 5:30 every morning. And the kid just overachieves in every aspect of his life.”

Marshall said he knew he had to adapt to this major change in order to succeed.

“It was like a pretty big adjustment coming from the city or to the city on the train,” Marshall said. “But a little bit through my junior year, it kind of just became routine for me. What really got me through it is I'm understanding that this is necessary for my growth. This is going to help me in the future and build character. And eventually just became part of my routine.”

While this was going on, Marshall was evolving as a basketball player.

“I think everyone sees his ability to make shots, which helps our team tremendously,” O’Keeffe said. “But defensively, I mean, he is so impressive. He can guard, you know, quick and shifty and athletic point guards, or he can match up with 6-8, 6-10 kids due to our lack of size. So just his defensive versatility has been nothing short of amazing. Henry's 6-foot-2, but he plays bigger.”

Marshall said that learning to play better defense was a key factor for his growth as a basketball player and will enable him to play at MIT.

“I love defense,” Marshall said. “Having coach (Gary) Wolf on the staff has really taken my defense to another level. When I was in middle school and then freshman year, it was more about physically being able to defend. But these last three years, the defensive IQ and the reads that I've learned just absolutely made my defense transcend. And a whole lot of credit goes to the coaching staff on that one.”

Marshall said that he is focused on this basketball season as the Lions are making a run at the ESCC title. They will have a huge test this Friday when they host Marist.

He also has his eyes set East, for the time when heads out to college.

“A lot of people ask me why I chose MIT,” Marshall said. “I just tell them that it speaks to itself. But I think what really sold me about MIT was the love the coaches showed me. It truly is very special.”

Marshall hasn’t chosen a major yet. But with all those train rides he has taken thus far, engineering looks like a great choice.