WINONA LAKE – Lakeland Christian Academy is coming off a 4-16 campaign, but second-year boys basketball head coach Lee Compson is looking for some improvement this season. "Last year was a season when were playing a lot of guys that weren't really ready for varsity experience, but we needed them to step into those roles," Compson said. "This year, that experience will be important. From a win-loss perspective, it's hard to say, but I do expect better play and competitiveness, even in games we lose." Gone from last year's squad is Jacob Cole, but with everyone else returning, Compson is optimistic about the last season before the LCA Cougars are a part of the IHSAA. "Our schedule has a lot of IHSAA teams, as well as some Christian schools too," he said. "Our athletic director, Tim Yocum, has scheduled us a lot of schools to meet IHSAA standards." The Cougars open their season tonight, hosting the Jimtown Jimmies, before Lakewood Park Christian comes to town Saturday and LCA travels to Tippecanoe Valley on Dec. 6. "Tippy Valley will be one of the bigger, better schools we'll play," Compson said. Going up against the public schools, Compson is going to be relying on the experience of a lot of players, including senior Josh Silveus, juniors Collin Price, Billy Pitts and Calvin Prinsen and sophomore Chris Silveus. Pitts is currently nursing an injured ankle, but expects to be back soon, with seniors Sam Harris and John Rohrs vying for playing time in his absence. "He's really our jack of all trades," Compson said of Pitts. "He does all the little things." Other reserves for the Cougars will be senior Teddy Harvey, juniors Zarek Finley, Logan Pitts and Noah Cole, as well as sophomore Logan Mount. With the 6-foot-6 Prinsen being LCA's lone 'pure' post presence, Compson hopes to see his defense force turnovers, which may result in easy points. "Offensively, we have a lot of good players," Compson said. "Together, we can be a pretty good team. It's up to the coaching staff to find the right mixture. Right now, we're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year. Defensively, we need to get after it and force turnovers, which can lead to easy buckets." And after a four-win season, Compson isn't setting a win total as a goal, instead, he's looking for improvement with each game. "We talked about goals the other day, and none of the players talked about wins or losses," Compson said. "The players talked about having a winning record, but didn't mention any numbers. But they did talk about playing hard game in and game out. And as a Christian school, we also want to represent Christ on and off the court. Those are worthy goals to have."
