La Grange Boys Race Past Austin Achieve
No matter the style, the Leps just keep winning.
The La Grange boys basketball team stayed tied for first atop the district standings with a 68-53 victory at home Friday over Austin Achieve.
Three days prior the Leps won a defensive battle over Caldwell, but Friday it was a run-and-gun track meet the Leps prevailed in.
“When we get up and down court I think we’re a better team,” said La Grange guard Jaden Williams. “We’ve got some athletes, and some guys that can really finish when we get it to them – it’s easy offense.”
La Grange more than doubled their point output Friday compared to Tuesday – while also more than doubling their points allowed.
“It’s funny. We have a team that can play different styles when we need to,” said La Grange head coach David Cooper. “Tuesday we relied on our defense to get through. Tonight we scored a lot of point and gave up more points than we normally do.”
Senior Jaxon Cooper poured in 27 points Friday and Nate Scott added 19 as La Grange got some breathing room with a big third quarter.
“Jaxon hasn’t been scoring a while lot this year compared to last year and we needed a night like this from him,” David Cooper said. “Hopefully that will get him going a little bit. Nate has really come on.”
La Grange survived on a night when Austin Achieve freshman Marcus Zelee scored 30 points.
“We knew he was good, but didn’t realize we would have that much trouble with him. We made some adjustments in the second half to hold him down,” David Cooper said.
“He’s going to be something big.” said La Grange’s Eli Roberts. “We tried anything in the books to try to stop him.”
Friday’s victory keeps the Leps in a three-way tie atop the District 22-4A standings, along with Giddings and Manor New Tech. The Leps (12-9 overall) will face both of those teams this week, Tuesday at Giddings and Friday hosting Manor New Tech.
“Feels good to be 3-0 in district but we still have a lot of work to do,” Roberts said.
1/6/23
La Grange boys 68, Austin Achieve 53
Austin Achieve 12 15 12 14 – 53 LG 16 17 25 10 – 68 LG scoring: Jaxon Cooper 27, Nate Scott 19, Jacob Chovanetz 7, Eli Roberts 7, Jaden Williams 4, Clayton Knapik 2, Ty Trlicek 2.
District 22-4A Boys Basketball La Grange 3-0 Giddings 3-0 Manor NT 3-0 Caldwell 0-2 Taylor 0-2 Smithville 0-2 Austin Achieve 0-3
JV: La Grange 52, Austin Achieve 16 Leading scorer: Knapik 10