‘Things had to change’: How Lewisville basketball turned its season around after doubt
The Lewisville High School boys’ basketball team was struggling.
At one point, the Lions were 7-6 overall, coming off back-to-back double-digit losses in the region. Making the playoffs was a realistic goal given how good they were — they’d proven their worth with a pair of wins over Buford and a close win over Timmonsville on the road.
But the team needed to be refocused. And head coach Mike McCray knew it.
McCray said he took 30 minutes of practice time one day to challenge his team.
“I told them that the way they were playing was not the way that we played basketball at Lewisville,” said McCray, who’s in his sixth year at the Lewisville helm, “and that things had to change.”
After those two consecutive losses, the Lions went on a five-game winning streak in the region, winning six of their next eight games. Those victories helped them secure a third place finish in the region and a playoff berth ahead the final game of the regular season on Friday at home against Chesterfield.
“I noticed a huge difference the next day at practice,” McCray said, crediting his senior leaders in Demetric Hardin, Jayon Talford and Jaylen Clyburn. “Those three seniors took what I said to heart and provided the leadership that we had not been getting.
“The results were phenomenal.”
Lewisville led by seniors
Hardin, who was recently named as the Region 4-2A Player of the Year for the second consecutive season, stepped up. He leads the team in scoring with 21.5 points per game. He also is the top rebounder with 13.1 stray shot recoveries per outing, and he hands out just more than two assists per contest.
“We just needed to bond together and play better as a team,” Hardin said. “We have worked very hard on that since the talk, and it has paid off for us. After Coach talked to us, we knew we had to get better in several areas. It was just a matter of the three of us providing the correct leadership.”
Talford, who is second in scoring with 12.6 points per game, echoed Hardin’s sentiment. His added scoring punch gives the Lions a balanced offensive attack. He also leads the Lions in assists with 4.5 per contest.
“We needed to do more than we did in the first part of the season,” Talford said. “We realized that we needed to play together as a team instead of individually. We worked with everyone on the team with that.”
Clyburn was another player to pick up the team’s leadership mantle. He pulls down just more than eight rebounds per game, and he felt like the overall team effort needed to improve.
“We talked to everyone on the team about playing harder as a team and challenging each other at practice,” Clyburn said. “Everybody worked to pick it up at practice. We started to show improvement with every practice and every game. We also talked about the role each player should have moving forward.”
Looking to the playoffs
After moving up the ladder in the standings, the Lions got back around to Lee Central, the top-ranked team in the state, and Andrew Jackson.
They gave Lee Central all they wanted last week in Richburg before losing, 65-64. They had lost to Lee Central 72-48 earlier in the year.
Wednesday night, the Lions dropped a 57-43 decision to Andrew Jackson, but they battled all night long.
The Lions are 13-9 overall and 7-4 in the region heading into Friday night.
The playoffs start on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
“I am confident that we can do well,” McCray said. “This team has improved its work ethic and is playing together much better.
“I think that we can do some damage in the playoffs.”
Five weeks ago, the playoffs were out of reach. But McCray challenged his team, and now their season’s hopes are restored.
“It meant a lot to me that these players accepted the challenge and assumed a positive leadership role for this team,” McCray said. “These three seniors deserve a lot of credit for the difference in this team in the second half of the season.”
Lewisville senior night
When? 8 p.m.
Against who? Chesterfield
Where? Lewisville High School (Richburg, S.C.)