HAMMOND | While most of his friends were watching the Bears, strolling at the mall or eating meatloaf at grandma's, Greg Flores did the same exact thing he does every Sunday afternoon.
From the age of 5 on up, Flores has been in the gym shooting hoops in Hessville.
"I just love playing basketball, I really do," said the Morton senior guard, who is averaging 19.3 points a game for his Governors (3-3).
"I do it for fun," he continued. "I like my team and when we're all playing together there's nowhere else I'd rather be."
Flores' parents, Greg and Darlene, run the Hessville youth basketball league that has sneakers squeaking every Sunday afternoon on Morton's floor.
So shooting the rock and hanging the nets is a family affair.
Morton will play Great Lakes Athletic Conference rival Gavit at 6 p.m. on Monday at the Hammond Civic Center in the 12th annual Region Roundball Rumble.
If the Govs want to snap a two-game losing streak to the Glads, Flores will need to be on his game.
Flores scored 27 in a win over Roosevelt and 26 against Class 2A No. 8 Bishop Noll.
"Greg plays on the wing, he helps handle the ball, he's just a good, heady ball player," Morton coach Robert Hall said. "He's the guy we're looking to go to in crunch time."
With Morton's football team advancing to the Class 4A Northern Semistate, the hoops team opened to a slow start with the first three games were against top tier teams -- Bishop Noll, Munster and Crown Point.
Since their 0-3 start, Morton has won three straight. And Flores is still glad his athletic shoes don't have spikes.
"All my friends on the football team tried to get me to come out," Flores said. "They said I could be a good receiver because I can run and jump. But I'm a basketball player. I stuck with that. I just can't get away from it."
Morton only won four games last season. The Govs took Gavit to double overtime before losing 75-72. Then, in the rematch, the Glads took a close game out to a 70-61 win.
"I'm looking forward to it, it should be a good game," Flores said. "Our big thing is defense. We've been giving up way too many points. I'd like to hold Gavit to 50 or 55 points.
"We have to hustle, play excellent defense and we can't get lazy on defense. When we do that we're not very good."
Like any gym rat, Flores wants to play ball at the next level. He has heard from Manchester, Rose-Hulman, Elmhurst and several other smaller schools.
Flores wants to be either an athletic trainer or an engineer in the electronics field.
"Greg has a high basketball IQ, which is what you'd expect from someone in the gym as much as he is," Hall said. "We're excited about this game and (Flores) will play a big part in our chances of winning.
"Everyone picked us last in our conference and we're undefeated and everyone else has a loss. We want to keep it going and playing at the Civic Center will be a lot of fun."
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