Brandon Mathis Playing Above the Rim for Leopards Basketball Team

La Grange junior Brandon Mathis is really coming into his own on the basketball court.

And that’s a really scary thing for teams trying to find a way to stop the Leps and their 6-foot-8 post the rest of the season.

“Brandon has strung together the two best individual practices we’ve had since I’ve been here and then tonight he played composed and did a lot of little things for us that we have been waiting for him to do. So this is three days in a row where he’s been that guy for us,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier, after Friday’s win over Victoria East in which Mathis scored a teamhigh 19 points. “He’s starting to use his voice and lead by example. That’s big for us.”

We’re proud to honor Mathis as this week’s Fayette County Athlete of the Week. We caught up with Mathis moments after Friday’s win, in which he had several exciting dunks.

“I actually do love that part of the game a lot,” Mathis said of dunking. “It shocks people when I do it. It’s really fun.”

Mathis is 6-8 now but he said doctors’ projections have him potentially growing to 6-11 so there’s lots more dunks in his future.

Beyond that part of his game, Mathis said he was really proud of his entire team’s effort Friday.

“Today we played really well,” Mathis said. “We had a bunch of hustle plays, we were on the boards really good, making shoots, playing great defense.”

Last year Mathis was a key part of the Leps team that went 23-10 and won a district title – but those Leps were knocked out of the playoffs in a first round overtime thriller.

This year Mathis said he and his teammates have grown – and not just physically.

“Last year I grew and the team grew a bunch of character,” Mathis said. “We stopped letting the little things get to us and we started working through those things, playing more physical.”