Port Arthur coach Alden Lewis doesn’t need his team’s five game winning streak—by an average of 26 points no less—to tell him his Titans are on the right track.
“We’re definitely on the right track to hopefully finish strong in the regular season and be heard from come the postseason,” Lewis told Texas Scorecard of his 15-6 team. “There’s a lot of hard work that has gone into where we are right now, and we still have a lot of work to do, but our guys are getting better at understanding what we have to do to be successful.”
Controlling the tempo and relentlessly pushing the ball up the floor figures right at the top of the Titans’ to-do list.
“You can usually tell how our night is going by gauging if we’re playing fast and getting our bigs involved,” Lewis added. “Those two things are critical to who we are.”
Nathan Clover, Kenneth Lofton and Jaden Conner set the tone for Memorial.
Clover, a 6-foot-8 inch junior center, averages 13 points and nine rebounds while anchoring the defense in his third-year of varsity play. The 6-foot-5 Lofton averages 14 points and 10 rebounds and Conner, another three-year varsity player, averages 12 points.
“We have some size and our guys are committed to playing inside-out,” Alden added. “Our understanding of who we need to be as a team is getting better all the time.”
Lewis also counts 6-foot-4 senior guard Steven Wilson as a regular contributor and raves about the long-term potential of freshman guard Amaree Abrams.
“He’s already a solid contributor, but we definitely expect big things from him going forward,” Lewis said of Abrams.
The Titans play three of their next four games at home, including hosting 19-5 Barbers Hills on Jan. 22.