Lakeway boys’ ready to start season after brief delay

Head coach Curtis Staples will be looking to replace two seniors, Dante Harris and Ben Knight, who scored the majority of the teams points last season. Despite the lack of playing experience from his team, Staples feels confident in his younger players.

“As a team, we are a really, really young team,” Staples said. “It’s kind of a rebuilding year for us. We’ve got some really good young talent and two really good seniors that will provide leadership for us. You can’t replace 30 points per game that easily. This year, it’s going to boil down to everyone giving everything they have. The continuity of the group is everything. Our offense, the way that we play, has to be team oriented. We can’t rely on one or two people like last year. But we can make up for it as a group.”

It won’t be easy to replace Harris, who averaged 30 points per game last year and is now gets significant playing time at Georgetown. However, Staples has two senior leaders who can help make up some of that scoring.

“One is Ethan Brooks,” Staples said. “He is a really great on-ball defender, a D-II prospect. And then we have Colston Kapnick. He is a D-III prospect. They are great leaders and will lead this young group. We have a really good freshman point guard Shajai Jackson. And we have some other really good players that are young.”

It’s been a difficult start to the season for Staples and his team, who have had to wait multiple weeks due to quarantine. Not being able to practice, Staples team will have to learn on the fly as they immediately step into action.

“That is just the way this thing has started,” Staples said. “It’s been very difficult, but we’re going to be patient with the process and ensure as much safety as possible for those involved.”

This will be year number one the Lions are eligible for the TSSAA postseason. However, it won’t be the first year they will be seeing the competition from their district.

Last season, Lakeway went 4-3 in district games, playing The Kings Academy, CAK, Grace Christian, Berean Christian, First Baptist Academy and Concord Christian.

“I think it just helped giving us a snapshot of what it looks like, playing them last year,” Staples said. “I’m not sure how much it will help this year just with it being such an abnormal year. But in the long run, it will definitely be beneficial, getting the feel of what it looks like and who we play on a season basis.”

Those who played Lakeway last year will be in for quite a different experience when they travel to take on the Lions this season.

Lakeway will be playing in a brand new gym and have brand new facilities on their brand new campus. For the Lions, it’s an opportunity to practice in a place that feels more like a college facility.

“It’s been absolutely wonderful,” Staples said. “The facilities we’ve had are second to none. Being able to have such tremendous opportunities in front of our guys and to have those facilities in high school is tremendous. We just thank the leadership for all of that.”

As has been seen already this season, games can disappear from schedules just hours before they are played and new games can pop up on the schedule one day in advance. For Staples, he feels that his team will be ready as long as they are able to practice.

“We just have to be prepared and ready to play wherever and whenever,” Staples said. “That’s all we can do. We can’t control what happens, but we can be ready at all times. As long we have practice time, we should be playing as hard as we can together. Like I always tell them, we’re not the only school going through this, so it’s no excuse to lean on that.”

Lakeway will open their season with two district games this week before taking on CAK next week. Non-conference games this season include South Greene.

Staples doesn’t have a goal in mind for his team in terms of wins as the season starts. He just wants to see his team compete.

“I just want us to grow as best we can and learn as a young group how we can compete together and grow,” Staples said. “I would love to see new young leaders step up.”