By Tom Ballato
After making a name from himself from behind the arc at Monroe Community College in New Rochelle, New York, Marc-Antoine Bourgault was ready for the next level.
The French born sharpshooter, Bourgault committed to the St. John’s Red Storm to play for coach Steve Lavin along with his teammate Orlando Sanchez. He averaged 10.8 points per game in 2011-12 and shot 42 percent from beyond the arc while at Monroe Community College. He also spent a season recovering from a torn ACL while at Monroe.
While receiving offers from LSU, Penn State, Iona, and Oregon, he chose to stay in New York. Bourgault spoke about the St. John’s selling point and said, “I had already played two years in New York City and I loved it. St.John’s is historically a well-know program, also the fact you play at Madison Square Garden almost every home game is a dream come true for any athlete. Orlando (Sanchez) and I wanted to keep on playing together and we got along very well with Lavin, Rico (Hines) and the rest of the coaching staff. To compete in the Big East was a challenge I wanted to accomplish. Every night was a high level game.”
In two season with the Red Storm, Bourgault was a reserve off the bench. He appeared in 42 games and averaged 2.5 points per game. His junior season, he was deemed eligible by the NCAA in mid-November. He averaged 2.9 points in 10 minutes per game, but struggled from behind the arc shooting 29 percent. In 2013-2014, his senior season, he made the most of his opportunities, but appeared in only 13 games. He shot 7 of 12 from behind the arc.
In 2014-2015, he started his professional career and played in France’s second division for Lille Metropole Basket. The following year, he played in Mexico (2015-2016), before heading back to France. Bourgault played semi-professional basketball for two years in Fougères, and in France’s 4th division from 2016-2018.
Bourgault is now in his second season with Stade de Vanves, a club in France’s fourth division, but the team moved up to the third division after winning the conference last year.
Bourgault mentioned, “Since I played in Fougères, I went back to school to get my MBA, which I did last summer while interning for Danone, as an account manager. I moved to Paris last summer with my girlfriend and got a new position for another company.” He has been able to balance a job and basketball for the past three years, but this year might be tough.
His days at St. John’s have come and gone, but he still follows the team via social media. He has a ton of memories as a member of the Red Storm, but said, “Playing at the Garden was a pleasure every single time and the college experience in NYC was once in a lifetime when you play for St. John’s.” Bourgault also mentioned his junior season when they beat UConn at the Garden as one of his great memories from his time in New York.
