Bubba Palacol turning heads with EvCC men’s basketball

Published 8:00 pm Monday, January 5, 2026

EVERETT — Plenty of sounds filled the Walt Price Student Fitness Center as the Everett Community College men’s basketball team began its practice on Dec. 31 with full-court layup lines.

When the ball wasn’t in his hands, redshirt freshman Hunter Shumway kept them busy by clapping to get the team pumped up. Fellow redshirt freshman Darious Turner finished every rep across the court with an emphatic dunk. The noise persisted as the Trojans transitioned into a defensive stance warmup, in which the players shuffled up and down the court while crouched in defensive position. The words “Ball! I got ball!” echoed out of players’ mouths, the sounds of their shouts and squeaking sneakers filling an otherwise empty gym.

But one player moved through every drill silently. Such that if the casual observer did not seek him out, he would have gone unnoticed.

His name is Bubba Palacol.

The true freshman is used to flying under the radar. Despite being a star three-sport athlete at Marysville Getchell, capping his senior basketball season as the Wesco North MVP and a selection on The Herald’s All-Area Team, he did not garner much attention from four-year college programs. Coaches at the next level overlooked the 5-foot-11 Palacol due to his size, so he enrolled at EvCC, where moving in silence has become his M.O., according to teammates.

“He’s definitely a little quieter,” Shumway said. “He’s not very vocal, but he just leads by example. His actions kind of speak louder than his words do.”

In fact, those warm-up drills may be the only time Palacol could go unnoticed on a basketball court. Just 15 games into his career with the Trojans, he’s made plenty of noise.

Palacol leads the team in minutes (35.1), points (21.1) and assists (4.5) per game. He ranks fourth in rebounds (4.2), but is first among guards. Across the entire Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC), Palacol ranks third in scoring and is in the top 10 for assists per game and 3-point percentage (43.6% averaging 5.2 attempts per game) as of Jan. 4.

The do-it-all guard set out to average 15-5-5 in the three major categories this season, writing his goals down on a whiteboard at his house. Even after going toe-to-toe with taller, more heavily recruited peers playing with Idaho Select in the Puma PRO16 Circuit this summer, his start at EvCC has been a pleasant surprise for him.

“I definitely didn’t expect to be averaging 20 (points) from going to high school to college,” Palacol said. “I thought it’d be more physical, speed — it obviously is, but I feel like I’ve adapted well to it.”

For everyone else in Palacol’s circle, it was expected.

Corby Schuh, Palacol’s coach at Marysville Getchell, had a Hall of Fame career with the Trojans from 1996-98, scoring 1,200 career points to finish among the top five scorers in program history. Once Palacol committed to EvCC, Schuh had a simple message for him.

“I told him, ‘Go have a ton of success, just don’t break any of my records,’” said Schuh, who left Marysville Getchell this offseason to join the coaching staff for Stanwood girls, where his daughter, Addy, plays.

“I knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to go there and hoop. He’s a hooper. He works hard. He gets after it. He plays good defense. He’s a scorer. It doesn’t matter how tall he is, you know he’s going to find buckets wherever he can.”

That was the exact plan EvCC coach Daniel Thompson had in mind for Palacol as well.

The third-year Trojans coach had Palacol circled as his top recruit in the area, and he needed a point guard to fill the role of Jailin Johnson, who averaged 10.8 points and a team-leading 4.0 assists as a sophomore in 2024-25 before continuing his career at Division-II Malone University this year. The program built a connection with Palacol and his family dating back to when Thompson’s predecessor, Mike Trautman, was still at the helm.

Knowing Palacol had the talent to play at a four-year school, Thompson pitched EvCC as a “backup plan.” If the four-year offers didn’t materialize, Palacol had the security of knowing the Trojans were in his corner. That ended up being the case, and while it was ultimately ‘Plan B’ for Palacol, it’s working out well for both the player and the team.

“It felt good,” Palacol said. “If nothing happened, I knew I was accepted somewhere where they wanted me to play. … Honestly, I’m kind of glad I came here. It gives me a year to get used to college basketball and create bonds with guys. Like I’ve met a lot of brothers here already, so it’s been a blessing.”

Among those newfound brothers is his actual brother, Mariano, who played alongside Bubba at Marysville Getchell and joined him with the Trojans this season. To make the transition even easier, Palacol is living at home and taking just one class in person. Through the Running Start Program, which allows high school upperclassmen to take college-level courses tuition-free, Palacol already earned his Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree before stepping foot on the EvCC campus.

Managing a smaller course load while living in the familiarity of home, Palacol has been able to focus on improving his game while keeping everything else well in balance.

“He’s always working out, always in the gym,” said teammate Kyler Hadfield, an Eagle Mountain, Utah native who is living with Palacol. “Just working hard.”

It all laid the foundation for instant success, but not without a hiccup along the way. After posting 18 points, five assists and four rebounds in his debut against Portland on Nov. 14, Palacol struggled against South Puget Sound the next day, scoring six points and going 3-for-8 from the field. The Clippers played a physical game, picking Palacol up in a full-court press that he needed to adjust to.

But Thompson knew that game would be a rare lapse from his new top player.

“After that second game (against South Puget Sound), I had texted him like, ‘Hey, I know you didn’t shoot the ball great tonight, but I’m not worried at all,’” Thompson said. “Like, ‘Just keep playing your game,’ and you’ve seen what he’s done since then.”

The Trojans returned to action two weeks later for the Red Devil Classic at Lower Columbia College in Longview, where they played three games on consecutive days from Nov. 28-30. Palacol scored 14, 19 and 24 points, respectively, shooting over 53% from the field in each of the latter two games and garnering at least three assists and one steal in all three.

“That’s when I knew I could definitely hoop and do well,” Palacol said.

In the 10 games since the Red Devil Classic, Palacol scored below 20 points just once, with 18 against Tacoma on Dec. 12, and his most recent game was his best yet.

In a 93-92 overtime loss to Spokane on Saturday, Palacol scored a career-high 34 points, shooting 14-for-25 (56%) from the field with six assists, three rebounds and two blocks. One of the blocks came on a hustle play early in the first half, where Palacol chased down 6-foot-4 Spokane guard Carson Way and prevented him from scoring on a fast break.

Through 10 minutes, Spokane had built a 22-13 lead and Palacol had just three points. As the clock ticked down to 9:59 left in the first half, he took a smack near his head that went uncalled as a foul. Thompson called a timeout, wanting to wake up his team.

“We just talked about, ‘Hey, just lock back in,’” Thompson said. “‘Focus. (If you) make a mistake, just move on to the next play and just try to get it back on defense rather than sit there and just think about the mistake you made, and let it compound over and over and over.’”

From there, Palacol put on a scoring clinic. He immediately drew a foul under the basket coming out of the timeout and sank both free throws, and he scored the next four points for Everett by displaying excellent dribbling to get around a couple Spokane defenders for a layup before picking up a loose ball and driving for another quick score around 40 seconds later, cutting the deficit to 26-21.

Palacol routinely attacked the basket, and when he didn’t, he kicked the ball out to his teammates for open looks, eyes always scanning for an open shooting or passing lane. When he drove, he somehow found a way to get clean shots up and in against taller defenders, possession after possession.

The Trojans slowly whittled away at Spokane until Palacol knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:26 before halftime to take a 39-36 lead, and after deflecting the ball away on a Spokane pass inside that would have led to a sure layup, sank a mid-range jumper with 46 seconds left to make it 41-36.

Palacol continued to lead the charge in the second half, helping EvCC build up an eight-point lead before Spokane worked it back into a tie game with 12:06 left in regulation. The teams remained within three points of each other down the stretch, and after Spokane’s Grant Olsen tied it 82-82 on a layup with 4.3 seconds remaining in the second half, Javonte Bolles won it in overtime for the Sasquatch with a go-ahead layup with 0.6 seconds left.

After losing by 14 and 19 points in their first two matchups against Spokane this season, respectively, Everett proved it could hang with the Sasquatch, who ranked No. 7 in the latest NWAC Coaches Poll.

Palacol in particular proved he could reach another level.

“I’m glad we don’t have to see him again the rest of this year,” Spokane coach Jeremy Groth said. “He gives us so many fits. He’s a high-level player. I think what makes him special is his motor and his ‘want.’ He’s got a humongous ‘want.’ It matters a lot to him, and he’s different in a good way, for sure, in the fact that he just cares so much, and I think that really translates on the court where he does whatever he can for his team to win. He’s a really, really tough guard.”

Even with such a strong start to his career with the Trojans, Palacol sees himself playing out his two seasons with EvCC before deciding on his next step. The Trojans are 7-8 entering conference play, but are 7-3 in their last 10 with a roster primarily made up of true freshmen.

“Even if there’s a few offers, we have a young, good team, so a lot of returners next year,” Palacol said. “I think we make some noise this year and even next year.”

Besides focusing on the team goals, Palacol is looking to grow as a playmaker and improve his 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, since he knows a player of his size will be relied on more for facilitating than scoring at higher levels.

In the meantime, Thompson will enjoy watching him lead the team, working in silence. Although Thompson says, if you stick around long enough, you’ll see it’s not always in silence.

“The coolest thing is just kind of seeing who Bubba is as a person,” Thompson said. “He’s quiet, but he’s funny and he jokes around. When you finally get that out of him and get him out of being shy, he’s just like a really cool dude and really fun to be around. …

“He’s the total package, man. Basketball, off the floor. Good with his teammates, family guy. We’re just really blessed to have him here.”