Leps Beat Cuero

More than two weeks into their regular season, the La Grange boys basketball team finally made their home debut Tuesday.

In a battle between a pair of short-handed squads, the Leps dominated Cuero 50-36 as La Grange improved to 4-4 overall.

Cuero, which is still alive in the football playoffs, was without several of their hoops stars, but La Grange also was missing three key players who were out sick.

Still, La Grange really outplayed the Gobblers, building a 12-0 lead into the second quarter before Cuero finally scored 10 minutes into the game.

“Anytime you can get out and play a game it’s going to help you,” said La Grange head coach David Cooper. “It was a win but it was really sloppy. I didn’t think we executed that well and we were sluggish all night.”

Still the Leps overmatched Cuero and never trailed.

Senior Dana Baker led the team in scoring with 12. Junior Jaxon Cooper and sophomore Nate Scott scored 11 each.

“We had a bunch of guys sick, so we knew a lot of others guys were going to get a chance to show what they could do,” said Jaxon Cooper.

So far the Leps are 4-4 overall heading into the Navasota Tournament this week.

“So far the kids have come to work every day and had a great attitude. They are being really coachable,” David Cooper said. “We have to do a lot of the little things right. I don’t think we’re playing smart basketball at times. I think we’re making some bad decisions in transition, and we’re just not playing at a high enough level and a fast enough pace to be as good as we can be ... my expectations are high.”

Jaxon Cooper is the leading returning scorer for the Leps team that returns eight varsity players overall from last year’s team that was second in district, went 14-8 overall and advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

“Our goal this year is to be district champs and after that try to make a run in the playoffs,” Jaxon Cooper said.

La Grange boys 50, Cuero 36

Cuero 0 13 12 11 – 36

LG 10 13 17 10 – 50

LG scoring: Dana Baker 12, Jaxon Cooper 11, Nate Scott 11, Ty Trlicek 8, Andrew Bargas 8.

Record: La Grange is 4-4.