LCA Trying To Build Off ContinuityWINONA LAKE – Lakeland Christian Academy will put a very young boys basketball team on the floor when it opens the season Tuesday at Caston. The Cougars will have three freshmen, five sophomores and five juniors in the program this season. Zero seniors. The team will benefit from head coach Chris Hohm stopping the revolving door in the coaches’ office. He said LCA will look to build on that continuity. “When I came in, the previous coach had only been here a year, and the guys on the team had a different coach every year,” Hohm said. “Now, while we have no seniors, but all our players have played for me since they got in to high school. Our leaders are juniors and sophomores, but they’ve only done it the way I want to do it, so I don’t have to reteach a lot of stuff, just kind of review and add to it, as opposed to spending a ton of time putting in one out-of-bounds play. “So that’s been great, as well as the team chemistry. They have continuity with each other and with the coaches, and the players like each other, so that’s been good. They enjoy being around each other, which makes my job a whole lot easier.” Progress is measured carefully at LCA, now in its fifth year of full IHSAA membership. Seven wins is the high water mark in that span, and Hohm’s teams won one game in his first year, and four last season. “My first year we lost by an average of 30 points a game. Last year it was down to an average of 15, so we made improvements on both ends of the floor,” said Hohm. “We’re looking to make greater improvements on the defensive end this year. “Really, we look at progress as ‘how many games are we competitive in.’ And I look for our win total to be a couple more than last year. We’re a little thin, but if we play well in the right games, we can win a few more than we did last year. “ The top scorer for the Cougars last season was Josh McDaniel at 13.3 points per game. “Josh McDaniel was our leading scorer as a sophomore, and of course we need that scoring again,” Hohm said. “Landon Twombly will be another player we count on. He got hurt last year halfway through his freshman season, and we think he’ll be better with a full season this year. I think he’ll step up and be a big leader on the court for us this year. He’s a guy who does a little bit of everything.” Other juniors on the roster are Noah Twombly, Trae Harris. Elijah Raymond and Jeremy Gross. The remaining sophomores are Trenton Parker, Jake Harmon, Braxton Keller and Alex Wiseman. Matthew Helton, Layton Goldsmith and Landon Paris are the freshmen in the program. Hohm knows it would be big for the Cougars to win a sectional game, something no other team at LCA has accomplished. “For us to contend for a sectional title is a long-term goal, with Blackhawk, Lakewood Park and Elkhart Christian in the same sectional we’re in,” he said. “They have more athletes, and they know how to win and they have that culture there. So for us winning a sectional game right now, it’s a bit of luck of the draw.”
