Fayetteville Spoils Leps Hoops Season Opener

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It was an exciting season opener for the La Grange basketball team as the Leps and Fayetteville went back-andforth before a fourth quarter surge vaulted the Lions to a 76-61 victory.

Fayetteville looked every bit like a team capable to returning to the state tournament like they did last year.

La Grange looked like a team that had more than half its players still adjusting to basketball after their football season ended last Friday. The Leps had just one day of basketball practice with their entire squad before Tuesday’s opener.

“We have a bunch of kids that were in football shape and not basketball shape and those are very different things,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier. “I saw a lot of rust out there. Just in the little things, defensive rotations, missed layups, turnovers. We tried to play a little too much one-on-one and that’s not our style. But it’s early in the year. We’ve just had one practice so the fact that we were able to run literally any offense at all was impressive for us ... These are thing that will get better. This doesn’t change my opinion of what this team can be by any stretch of the imagination. Until our legs left us we were every bit as good as they were.”

But Fayetteville was too much.

The Lions were clinging to a 53-52 lead going into the fourth quarter but outscored La Grange 23-9 in the final period.

Fayetteville’s Chance Konvicka really caught fire late, nailing three fourth quarter three-pointers as part of his team-high 22 points. Easton See Jaeger added 15, Lawson Fritsch scored 14 and Mason Fenhaus scored 10 for the Lions.

“If they shoot like that in a 1A environment, they are going to win a lot of ballgames,” Collier said.

“We finally got some shots to fall,” said Fayetteville head coach Jake Diggs. “We were taking the right shots all night. They weren’t falling in the first half. We tightened some things up defensively and some shots started falling.”

Tuesday’s win improved the Lions record to 2-2.

“We’re playing some really, really good teams which I think is going to build our character, build our toughness, and we’ve competed well with them,” Diggs said. “Hopefully this is a turning point for us and we can keep it rolling.”

Can they make it back to state?

“We’re just trying to get better every day,” Diggs said.

That’s La Grange’s goal as well, and despite the loss, there was plenty for La Grange fans to be excited about.

Sophomore Conner Brooks led the Leps in scoring with 13.

Fellow sophomore Brandon Mathis scored 11 in his Leps debut. The six-foot-six move-in from Giddings also blocked four shots Tuesday.

Senior Devonte McKenzie scored 10, juniors Cole Collier had nine and Oliver Gunn scored seven. Seniors Cordale Knapik scored five, Clayton Cooper scored four and Tre Supak scored two. Other members of this year’s varsity include seniors Camden Coltrain and Braxton Dahse and junior Mason Kleiber.

It’s a group Coach Collier expects big things from.

It’s also a group that was taking the loss hard.

“They are frustrated and we want them to be,” Coach Collier said. “We need that care and effort to show up on the court.”

The Leps return to action Saturday at home against Sealy. The varsity will play about 4:30 p.m.

11/19/24

Fayetteville boys 76, La Grange 61 La Grange 15 16 21 9 – 61 Fayetteville 17 11 25 23 – 76 LG scoring: Oliver Gunn 7, Clayton Cooper 4, Tre Supak 2, Cole Collier 9, Devonte McKenzie 10, Connor Brooks 13, Cordale Knapik 5, Brandon Mathis 11.

Fayetteville scoring: Mason Fenhaus 13, Kole Schmitt 2, Lawson Fritsch 14, Luke Korenek 8, Brody Dooley 2, Easton Jaeger 15, Chance Konvicka 22.

Records: La Grange is 0-1. Fayetteville is 2-2.