XENIA—The journey to become a conference champion can be a long one. However, the Legacy Christian Academy Knights boys high school basketball team won its first Metro Buckeye Conference title by a score of 50-42 over last year’s champion the Troy Christian Eagles.
LCA senior Erik Uszynski said he never doubted it could happen.
“I told Keano (Hammerstrom) way back in eighth grade that senior year we were going to win the conference, and so now that’s been fulfilled.”
It was Senior Night so the crowd was pretty hyped to start the game, but LCA started off rough as it took them 5:31 to score their first basket. However, the team pulled through. By the end of the second quarter the team had taken their first lead and never gave it up.
Uszynski led the team with 17 points and was able to break the 1,000 career point barrier in the game. Immediately after scoring the basket he sprinted to his dad and gave him a big hug.
“It’s always special when that happens because a lot of hard work goes into getting that,” LCA coach Brad Newsome said. “I was glad to see him improve over time and be able to get that.”
Uszynski said it was a great bonus, but that he really was much more concerned with winning the conference.
”It was Senior Night. We won the conference with my guys. That felt so much better than the 1,000 points, but the 1,000 was nice, too.”
Newsome said that the process was something they were constantly focusing on, to work towards this achievement. He mentioned how the school had been building this one brick at a time and it was great to see it all come together.
“I’m happy for the guys, the school and the journey we have all been on together,” Newsome said. “This is one of the places we wanted to land.”
Newsome said this first conference title for the boys should help set the program in the future.
“We have reached the standard that we want to have every year,” Newsome said. “This is where we are supposed to be and we are going to work hard to stay there.”
LCA achieved one of its biggest goals with the conference win.
“This night, it feels awesome,” Uszynski said. “We made a lot of steps. Four years ago (as a freshman) we were 3-19 and bottom of the conference, now we are 18-3 and at the top of the conference.”
What a world of difference a four-year journey can make.
