LCA Basketball: Cougars Ready To Add Win To Résumé
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LCA’s Josh McDaniel will have to lead the way if the Cougars want to make a run in the Bethany Christian Boys Basketball Sectional. (File photo by Mike Deak)
WINONA LAKE – The turnaround at Lakeland Christian Academy by Chris Hohm is underway, and a checkmark at the Bethany Christian Sectional is directly on the team’s mind.
Hohm, in his third season, has guided the Cougars to more wins this season (eight) than it had in his previous two seasons combined (five).
While the Cougars are still looking to establish itself in just its fifth year of IHSAA eligibility, the progress has been evident. But making a splash in the sectional is something no LCA team has done, going one-and-done in every one of its previous four tournament appearances. The team also got over the seven-win hump that served as the team-high for wins in the iHSAA era, set in 2012-13. LCA beat Howe Military Academy last Tuesday to pick up its eighth win.
If LCA wants to achieve some of its longterm goals, it will need to find scoring from more than just Josh McDaniel. The junior is doing a lot of the offensive work for the Cougars, who averages almost 17 points, four rebounds and two assists per night. McDaniel missed some time in early February due to illness, but is said to be fully healthy and ready to go.
Landon Twombly is the other double-digit scorer for the Cougars at 10.7 points per game and pulls in five rebounds, four assists and two steals per night. and Jake Harmon is scoring over seven points per night. Harmon’s prowess in McDaniel’s absence made a huge difference. Eli Raymond and Jeremy Gross offer inside presence, the two bringing in over nine points and nine rebounds combined per game.
“McDaniel is healthy again and will be ready to go in our sectional game,” stated Hohm. “He’ll be back to full strength by then. We will need all of our guards to score well and get some decent production from out post players to be able to score enough to keep up with Fort Wayne Blackhawk or Elkhart Christian. We need to make sure that we get Jake Harmon shots early in the game and keep him involved throughout, as he gives us a big emotional jump when he starts hitting his shots.”
LCA, however, is going to have to do some creative managing to get through its draw at the Bethany Christian Sectional. The Cougars (8-15) have the bye, but once again are facing a scenario of a possible matchup against three-time defending sectional champion Fort Wayne Blackhawk. The Braves (15-9) will meet Elkhart Christian (11-10) on Tuesday, the winner getting LCA in one semi-final Friday. The other half of the bracket has Hamilton (1-21) facing the winner of Lakewood Park (14-8) against Bethany Christian (4-16).
LCA is just 1-3 in Class 1-A Bethany Christian matchups this season, the one coming in a 36-34 win against Hamilton in early December, the first win LCA has produced against a sectional opponent in its IHSAA history. LCA lost to Bethany Christian, Elkhart Christian and Lakewood Park Christian during the season.
“The boys know that we are going to have to come to play hard that night and take care of the ball to give ourselves a fighting chance,” Hohm said. “We know that both teams (Blackhawk/ECA) have a lot of good athletes and seem to be able to just rotate pretty deep into their bench without too much of a drop off. We will need to stay out of foul trouble to keep our best lineup on the floor as much as possible.”