Even Short-Handed, Leps Stay Dominant In District Basketball
-
La Grange’s Devonte McKenzie goes to the basket as two Caldwell players defend on the play Friday. Photo by Jeff Wick -
Varsity call-up Caleb Norwood, a sophomore, drives between a pair of Caldwell players Friday. Photo by Jeff Wick
With more than half of the varsity boys basketball team sitting out for what was termed “poor decisions on social media” the La Grange Leps still stayed unbeaten in district play.
With a number of JV callups playing key minutes the Leps beat Caldwell 54-38 Friday as La Grange improved to 21-8 overall and 7-0 in district.
“That’s what a basketball program looks like,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier as he talked about how the short-handed Leps freshman and JV teams all swept Caldwell Friday. “This was a team win. All my varsity guys (who had to sit out) were on the bench coaching. They were talking to the new
See guys telling them ‘to do this, look at this, this is open.’ This was one of the more fun wins I’ve had.”
La Grange sophomore Conner Brooks came into Friday’s game as the team’s leading scorer and he did so again Friday with 22 points. The only other starter in uniform Friday for the Leps was Devonte McKenzie, who scored four. Usual varsity reserves Mason Kleiber, Tre Supak and Braxton Dahse played expanded roles.
The five varsity call-ups Friday were all sophomores -- Christian Biles, Caleb Norwood, Dillan Johnson, Chris Supak and Dwodney Thompson.
“We’re all sophomores so I’ve been playing with those guys since we were little,” Brooks said. “There was a little doubt in the first half but after halftime they really got after it.”
The Leps led just 23-21 at halftime and led by just five going into the fourth quarter but really blew the game open in the fourth quarter.
“I thought Caleb did a great job of giving us a secondary ballhandler which will be his role next year,” Collier said. “Dillan did an amazing job of giving us a lockdown on-ball defender.
“I thought Christian Biles gave us some amazing rebounding, Dwodney did a great job, Chris Supak did a great job, Tre (Supak) played great in the second half.”
Tuesday the Leps return to action at full strength when they head to Navasota.
1/31/25
La Grange boys 54, Caldwell 38
La Grange 12 11 16 15 – 54 Caldwell 10 11 13 4 – 38 La Grange scoring: Christian Biles 1, Caleb Norwood 5, Tre Supak 8, Chris Supak 6, Devonte McKenzie 4, Conner Brooks 22, Mason Kleiber 6, Dwodney Thompson 2.
Record: Leps are 21-8 overall and 7-0 in district.
Next game in Navasota on February 4.
22-4A Boys Basketball La Grange 7-0 Navasota 6-1 Bellville 4-3 Giddings 2-5 Caldwell 2-5 Smithville 0-7