WINONA LAKE – When the Lakeland Christian Academy Cougars began the 2014-15 season, head coach Chris Hohm knew most of his varsity players could use another season or two at the junior varsity level. He said they needed to work on their basketball IQ and scoring the basketball. Three months later they’re looking for some consistency after getting over a major hurdle, the first win of the season, on Friday. “We’re still working on the basketball IQ part,” Hohm said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who haven’t played a ton of basketball; they play a lot in-season but we haven’t been out very frequently in the offseason. So there’s times when we’re making mistakes based on not being experienced enough. “But by us coaching them up throughout the year, and telling them the same things over and over, they are beginning to realize those things and the basketball IQ is coming along. Now it’s a matter of getting it from the white board when we draw it up to the court and being able to do it in the middle of a game.” The Cougars’ scoring hasn’t been where they’d like it to be. In the first half of the season, they failed to score more than 34 points in any game. Now they’ve rattled off 10 games in a row where they’ve scored at least 35 points, and twice have scored 67. “As far as scoring the basketball, we still need to work a little better as a team and we still struggle to put the ball in the hoop,” Hohm said. “We go through stretches where we do a good job of playing team basketball and we get good looks, and we go through stretches where we get worked up a little and rushed, and we don’t make good decisions with the basketball.” The Cougars are led in scoring by juniors Connor Blum and Jon Harmon, and freshman Josh McDaniel. Blum averages just under 11 points per game, Harmon a touch over eight and McDaniel a bit more than seven per game. Of LCA’s top nine players, only two are seniors. “We’re really excited about the future. The guys we’ve got coming back can score the basketball at different times,” said Hohm. “Having another year to work with them will be good. On the defensive end, we’ll have some good strong bodies that can rebound, and offensively we won’t have to replace a huge percentage of our scoring.” There is still business to handle in 2015, a sectional game with the Hamilton Marines at 6 p.m. Tuesday on Hamilton’s home floor. “For the sectional, our biggest goal is we want to show improvement,” said Hohm. “Hamilton beat us by about 35 points (69-33) earlier this season. We had a good first quarter against them and were down only eight at halftime. And then we fell apart in the second half. I’d like to see us play a complete game against them, keep it tight, and maybe squeak another (win) out. “But I’d be disappointed if we ended up with another 30-point loss. Obviously we’d love to get that win, but mostly we want to show improvement and that the hard work the boys have done will pay off.” The winner faces seventh-ranked Fort Wayne Blackhawk in the semifinals of the sectional at 6 p.m. Friday, with the championship game set for 7 p.m. Saturday.
