WALES — Like just about any other sport, basketball is a game of never-ending adjustments.

For Oak Hill, the 2016-17 season could come down to how opponents adjust to senior center Marcus Bailey, and how he adjusts to those adjustments.

The 6-foot-4 Bailey has burst on the scene as one of the top players in the Mountain Valley Conference, averaging 16.5 points, 9.4 rebounds and four blocks per game. He’s been a big reason the Raiders have matched last season’s win total already with six, and has them dreaming of a rare feat at Oak Hill — back-to-back tournament appearances.

Signature wins over the likes of Hall-Dale and Lisbon have the Raiders ranked fourth in the latest Class B South Heal point standings with a 6-5 record after finishing 6-13 and reaching the preliminary round last year.

Bailey said the record may surprise some, but not the Raiders. 

“The team chemistry is definitely the difference,” Bailey said. “Last year, it  was the seniors and then everybody else. This junior class and senior class have been playing together since the third and fourth grade. We’ve been playing in tournaments since that level. We know how to play with each other. The chemistry is definitely at a different level than most teams.”

Bailey has taken his game to a different level after an off-season focused on AAU and with individual workouts. He became more confident with the ball and facing the basket.

“I developed more of a handle and my shot’s definitely come to me a little better,” Bailey said. “I think that can be a mismatch on the court.”

Like virtually every other teenager with a love for basketball, Bailey wants the ball in his hands wherever he is on the floor and, in this age of “stretch fours” and the 3-point shot, likes to show off his range and driving ability.

Oak Hill coach Tom Smith already has a bevy of perimeter shooters in guards Evan Boston, Austin Noble and Cohen Donnell who can already stretch the floor and make opposing defenses pick their poison. Understandably, he wants Bailey in the post more, where his length, strength and athleticism make him a tough match-up.

“He has a tendency to leak out too far, when there aren’t many guys in this league that have the talent and the post moves that Marcus has,” Smith said. “We battle, but it’s a good battle. It’s a battle that I think every coach would like to have.”

“It makes me hungry,” Bailey said. “I just want to prove him wrong. My freshman year, I was a guard playing JV. I’ve always loved playing that position. But I also know I’m one of the tallest kids in the conference so I need to be in the post. I also think if I was to be pulled up top, the big kids can’t guard me because they’re too slow.”

 As his reputation as a player spreads through the conference, Bailey is becoming the focal point of opposing game plans. Smith believes he has other weapons to take some of the pressure off his star center.

“As we go through the league the second time around, it’s going to be a little bit different,” Smith said. “If they take Marcus out, he will get other guys involved. We have Cohen Donnell who can hit from outside. Evan Boston can hit from outside, and Austin Noble. And Darryn, (Bailey’s brother) can play as well. But like I’ve been trying to tell Marcus, teams are going to know what he’s capable of.”

“It’s a big thing to get other people involved,” Bailey said. “If I’m shooting all the time, my teammates will get cold and I won’t be able to get them the ball because they won’t hit their shots.”

As a senior, this year is Bailey’s last shot at leaving a legacy for the Oak Hill basketball program. 

Brother Darryn, a junior. has been a key part of the school’s recent success on the football field, and Oak Hill field hockey won its first state title last fall. Marcus, who is considering continuing his studies and playing career at school like Central Maine Community College, Southern Maine Community College or the University of Maine-Augusta, would like to add his favorite sport to similar heights.

“I definitely want Oak Hill to be know as a basketball school, or an all sports school, not just football or field hockey,” he said. “That would be pretty nice.”