PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE
EARLY CAREER
Marcus Alipate is from Oakland, California. His family roots are from the Kingdom of Tonga from the villages of Kolofo’ou & Kolomotu’a. He has 5 siblings. Alipate attended Bloomington Jefferson High School where he was a 4x lettermen & 2x captain in both football and basketball. His sophomore season, the Jaguars won the SSC conference and went to the Minnesota State Tournament for basketball. He was a McDonalds All-American nominee in 2011. Marcus is currently 2nd all-time in scoring with 1326 points. In 2024, Marcus was inducted into the Jefferson High School Hall of Fame.
COLLEGE
Marcus attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota where he majored in Entrepreneurial Studies. While in college, Alipate started a clothing line called True You. He finished his basketball career with a 98-19 record, scored over 1,000 points, 4 regular season conference titles, 4 NCAA Tournament appearances, a Final Four appearance and was named a starter in the 2015 Reese's All-American game in Salem, Virginia.
CANTERBURY RAMS
In 2015, Marcus embarked on his professional career in Europe, initially in Germany and Latvia. Later that year, he inked a deal with the Canterbury Rams in Christchurch, New Zealand. The Rams were the regular season champions (2016), made the playoffs & reached the Final Four each season Alipate was with the team. The last time the Rams won the regular season was in 2002. Marcus was one of the league's deadliest shooters finishing each seasons as the top in both three-pointers made & three-point percentage. Each season as the league leader shot the ball over 42% from three-point land while also setting a NBL record for most threes made in one game (10).
TONGAN NATIONAL TEAM
In 2018, Marcus was named captain of the Tongan National Basketball Team. He helped lead Tonga to their first bronze medal in history at the FIBA Polynesian Cup where he averaged a tournament best 39.2 points per games, including a historic best 55-point game in the elimination game against the Cook Islands. Alipate earned himself to the FIBA All-Star 5 team, and helping Tonga punch their ticket to the Pacific Games in Apia, Samoa. Also during 2018, Marcus signed with the Geraldton Buccaneers in Australia.
At the 2019 Pacific Games in Samoa, Marcus led the pre-olympic qualifier again with 34.3 points per game, including a tournament best with 44 points against New Caledonia. Alipate was named to the FIBA All-Star 5.
In 2022, Alipate led Tonga to its first ever silver medal at the FIBA Polynesian Cup in New Zealand, punching their ticket to the 2023 Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands. He was named to the FIBA All-Star 5. Also in 2022, Marcus was named to the inaugural 3x3 team that competed at the 2022 Asia Cup in Singapore.
GERALDTON BUCCANEERS
After returning back to the Buccaneers in Australia, Marcus went on to help win the 2019 NBL1 Championship. It was only the second time in club history, and helped break the 20 year drought. During his 2019 season, Marcus was named as a starter for Team World in the NBL1 All-Star game in Perth, Australia.