Leps Win Hoops Opener 71 -28

It was an impressive start to the season for the La Grange boys basketball team as they bashed Hempstead 7128 Monday.

“It’s early, we’re nervous, we’re still trying to knock the rust off but the effort and the intensity were there,” said La Grange head coach Trent Collier. “Defensively we looked good. We took the ball to the hole. It was a good start - a good first win.”

Junior Conner Brooks (the returning district Offensive MVP) led the way for the Leps with 22 points. Senior Mason Kleiber added 15 and fellow senior Cole Collier scored 10.

“It feels good to be back,” said Kleiber. “The first game kinda surprised me because I didn’t know how it was going to go but defensively we played well. The offense was a little slow but I feel like as we get into the season it will get better.”

The Leps start the season trying to fill a lot of new roles after they won the district title and went 23-10 last season.

Six seniors graduated off that team, the team’s tallest, Brandon Mathis, is not expected back until mid-December and senior Oliver Gunn, who was also a big force inside for the Leps was lost for the season because of an injury during football.

“I know we’re not going to get Ollie (Gunn) back, that’s a loss we’re going to feel all year,” Collier said. “We made him Coach Ollie, we let him talk to the team at halftime and before the games, so he’s an integral part of our team still.”

Chris Supak (who scored seven Monday), Christian Biles (who scored five Monday), Dillan Johnson and Caleb Norwood also return from last year’s district title team.

This team is particularly special for Coach Collier as it is his final season with his senior son, Cole.

“It’s fun. I’ve got to be harder on him than other people. Cole is a good shooter and a good defender. I’m his biggest fan, but I’ve got to put some of that away and coach him just like he’s anybody else even though he’s really not,” Coach Collier said. “He’s a good kid, and he’s a hustler. He’s worked long and hard for this opportunity.”

Varsity newcomers include the team’s only sophomore Hunter Gross (who scored four Monday) and seniors Caleb Stokes and Scott Davis (who scored eight off the bench Monday).

It’s a group that should be a dangerous outside shooting team even if they didn’t really show it against Hempstead.

“We are a good shooting team, at least that’s the evidence I see in practice, but we were 0-for from the threepoint line until the fourth quarter,” Collier said. “But it’s early.”

This team also lacks height, especially until Mathis comes back.

But they do have a lot of really physical players, who rebounded well Monday.

“We rebounded well but we didn’t block out well,” Collier said. “There was a lot of effort going into rebounding but the technique wasn’t great. We can have the illusion of something being really good, but we will run into teams pretty soon that if we aren’t blocking out, we won’t be able to compete for those balls.”

The Leps next game is Tuesday, Dec. 2, when they host Hallettsville at 7 p.m.