LBJ Knocks Leps Into Second Place
In a battle between the only two undefeated teams left in District 20-4A play, Austin LBJ came to La Grange and defeated the Leps 55-42 Tuesday night.
“They have unbelievable speed that you can not replicate in practice,” said La Grange head coach David Cooper, of LBJ. “We knew it was going to be like that, we warned them and we watched film. We knew it was going to be fast but I’m sure it was a lot faster than they really thought it was going to be. I thought we did well, I really did. We’re going to count up turnovers and it’s going to be a lot of them.
“It was exactly where I wanted the score to be. I knew we needed to hold them into the 50s. When we broke the press we needed to go score. We turned it over a little too much.”
La Grange fell to 9-5 overall and 3-1 in district play with the loss. LBJ improved to 4-0 in district with the win.
The Jaguars came into Tuesday’s contest having beaten Giddings by 56 earlier this month and having scored 104 in a win over Manor New Tech last Friday.
“They can cause a lot of turnovers so you have to match their effort and intensity. They had tremendous speed and you just had to keep your composure and stay with them the best you can,” said La Grange senior guard Jordan Scott.
But the Leps went toe-to-toe with the speedy Jaguars for almost three quarters. La Grange actually led 13-8 after the first quarter, but LBJ nailed five three-pointers in the second quarter to take a five point lead into halftime.
With 1:24 left in the third quarter an Adam Faske lay-up cut the LBJ lead to just 37-36.
But LBJ scored seven unanswered points to end the third quarter and then played keepaway in a low scoring final quarter to secure the win.
La Grange sophomore Jaxon Cooper led the Leps in scoring with 15 points, one game after scoring a team-high 30 last week against Austin Achieve.
“He’s played well. He’s really surprised me this year,” David Cooper said of his youngest son. “Being on the varsity football team helped him with some confidence.”
Jaxon’s brother, senior Caden Cooper, added 13.
The Leps scheduled game Friday against Austin Eastside will not occur because of the cancellation of Eastside’s season.
La Grange will next play at Giddings Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
“LBJ’s going to win the district. This was probably as close a game as they’ll play in district honestly,” David Cooper said. “We’re shooting for that number two spot. Next Tuesday night against Giddings is huge.”
1/12/21
Austin LBJ boys 55,
La Grange 42
Austin LBJ 8 22 14 11 – 55
La Grange 13 12 11 6 – 42
La Grange scoring: Jaxon Cooper 15, Caden Cooper 13, Andrew Faske 5, Ty Trlicek 4, Alijah Grant 3, Dana Baker 2.
Record: La Grange is 9-5 overall and 3-1 in district.