Editor’s Note: Before the snow hit and cancelled school for the remainder of the week, Leesville Men’s Varsity Basketball faced off against Heritage on Monday night. The recap follows.
Alex Hunter, Leesville freshman guard, is the real deal. The young phenom led the Leesville Pride in their pull-away win against the Heritage Huskies, 58-50.
“We were able to execute what coach wanted us to do, and make baskets that were needed,” he said.
The Pride (4-4, 8-10) started off the game much to their liking on the defensive end. They controlled the pace of the game and played the passing lanes, causing turnovers for the Huskies. However, they had trouble offensively, and were only able to gain a 12-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Heritage (3-5, 12-6) came back to tie the game early in the second, with back-to-back three pointers from guard Nick Grover. The competitive quarter saw neither team hold a lead for long. Both teams once again played solid defense, and all baskets was earned.
The Loonies were sent into a frenzy late in the half, courtesy of Alex Hunter. He crossed over a Heritage player, who fell to the floor, and passed it to an open Greyson Kelley for the layup.
The half ended knotted up, 20-20.
Brandon Staves, senior, opened up the second half with a nice floater through the middle. Both offenses were able to open up more in the third quarter, but once again neither team was able to pull away. The quarter ended with a slim two-point lead for the Pride at 36-34.
The fourth quarter was different from the rest; at last, Leesville was finally able to secure a firm lead. This was mainly due to the play of Alex Hunter. The freshman was able to get into the paint at will, hitting teammates with accurate passes and scoring when needed.
“Making the right decision for the team.” he said of his thought process throughout games. “Anything to help the team.”
Leesville pulled away late in the fourth, but some questionable fouls from the Pride made the ending a bit more dramatic than needed. Heritage played the fouling game, but the Pride connected on the necessary free throws, which unfortunately has not been the case throughout this season.
Russ Frazier, head coach, saw some areas that have seen improvement, and weaknesses that still haven’t been patched up.
“We made free throws at a higher rate, but at the same time we made bad fouls at the end,” he said. “We’re cleaning up our mistakes and getting better, and showing improvement.”
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