In Year 2, Anderson has Harding Academy believing
Harding Academy has lost to Lausanne in its last 10 matchups. That changed Friday night. The Lions, off a late 3 by senior guard Jack Turman, defeated the Lynx, 44-39, to end a long losing streak to Lausanne dating back…
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Continue ReadingHarding Academy has lost to Lausanne in its last 10 matchups.
That changed Friday night.
The Lions, off a late 3 by senior guard Jack Turman, defeated the Lynx, 44-39, to end a long losing streak to Lausanne dating back to the 2018-19 season. It was a cause for celebration as the student body joined the team near mid-court, jumping up and down at a steady pace while smiling and yelling on beat with one another. This win meant a lot to a Harding Academy program that hasn’t seen much success since the 2018 season.
That same season, the Lions finished 24-5. In 2023, Harding Academy is 15-5 and currently sits in second place in the TSSAA District II-A West District 6, trailing only first place First Assembly Christian School, which Harding Academy will face at home on Monday.
Before the key matchup against the talented Crusaders team, second-year head coach Cedric Anderson had to instill a winning attitude into this season’s roster. He had to preach toughness, hard work, and dedication to a group of players who weren’t used to winning. As for Anderson, it took patience from within himself to allow a moment like Friday night to come. Now that it’s here, Anderson can, sort of, rejoice.
”We are thankful for the boys to work hard and believe they can beat a team that they haven’t beaten in five years,” Anderson said. “You really have to overcome a lot of mental and emotional hurdles to do that and then stay focus. I’m glad it was a game that pushed us all the way to the end. We didn’t blow them off the court. We had to show we had mental toughness. Now, we have to keep things in perspective, go practice and get ready to play FACS, the team that’s favorite to win the district.
”We are going to be ready for them.”
The Lions won Friday night’s contest without their best player, freshman point guard Fred Martin Jr., who’s sidelined for the remainder of the season with a lower body injury. Harding Academy was down by as many as seven points in the third quarter. The Lynx started the third quarter on an 11-0 run as the Lions were reeling. Senior wing Owen Layne, who led the team with 20 points, scored the team’s next seven points before a 3 by Turman had the team down 32-29.
Harding Academy tied the game three times in the fourth quarter before the frantic finish. Junior small forward Chazaiah Curry held the basketball at the top of the key, without any defender in his face, in the final 1:22. No Lausanne defender was in sight as the entire Lynx team stood back past the 3-point line while Curry looked at his coach, waiting for the signal to execute a play.
Once the clock went under 10 seconds, Anderson signaled for Curry to call out the play. The 6-foot-5 forward dribbled the basketball towards the left side of the court, dribbled back to his right, and found a cutting Turman (10 points) in front of him for the deep 3-pointer while being guarded by three Lynx defenders at the left elbow.
A season ago, the Lions wouldn’t have rallied after losing their six-point lead. They would have folded and caved in. But under a fresh, positive leadership in Anderson, Harding Academy is believing in what was once the impossible: winning.
”All wins are different. All hurdles are different,” Anderson said. “This is a Harding hurdle against Lausanne. We are showing we can do it as a program, and battle the Lausanne’s, the FACS’s and ECS’s in our district and come out on top.”