After Rough Seasons, Lakeside Basketball Teams Look Ahead

While many of their DeKalb County brethren are gearing up for this week’s state playoffs, the Vikings basketball teams turn their attention to the future. For one of the programs, a longtime coach will step aside and make way for a new legacy; the other will benefit from having more leadership on a squad with no seniors in 2010-11. 

Both teams experienced tough first-round exits against Mays in last week’s Region 6-AAAA tournament, the boys 64-37 and the girls 79-25, ending their 2010-11 seasons. The boys finished 5-21 overall and 2-15 against league opponents, while the girls carried a 3-20, 1-16 mark for the year.

There were a number of highlights for both teams this winter, however. The boys, under the tutelage of Larry Pierce, surprised Marist on the road in a 52-46 win earlier this month; nine losses by 10 points or less proved that the Vikings could compete in perhaps the toughest region in the state. Angela Thompson’s girls team was also in multiple close contests but pulled out two wins in a row over cross-town rival Druid Hills and region rival Lithonia in January.

END OF AN ERA

The Viking boys program will be entering a transitional period with the retirement of head coach Larry Pierce after this school year. Pierce, whose career on the sidelines began back in 1978 with DeKalb’s old Sequoyah High, served two stints at Lakeside as head coach (1998-2001, 2005-11) and also guided Druid Hills for five years before moving across town to the Vikings. Pierce led the Vikings to three playoff appearances, including a Sweet Sixteen run in 2001, and leaves with a record of 135-127 at the school. He is Lakeside’s winningest coach.

This year’s version of the Vikings had to deal with the offseason losses of six seniors and a handful of transfers from an 18-8 squad that earned a No. 3 seed in the state playoffs. It was no secret the team would need to rely on a number of upperclassmen who lacked significant game experience.

“We talked a lot at the beginning of the season about taking advantage of the opportunity,” Pierce said. “Our players, especially our seniors, did just that. We also talked a lot about the fact that we wanted to work hard to jell as a basketball family because years down the road our time together would be what we most remember, not the wins and losses.” 

The team emerged quickly this year with a nucleus of players. At the guard spots, Tre Cooper, Angelo Cauley and Justin Toles did the heavy lifiting, while Nathan Riley and Devian Clark manned the wings. The Vikings’ only true post presence was 6-foot-4 Eric Cloyd, also a standout receiver on the football team, making them undersized against their competition; Frank Tanefo, at 6-foot-1, routinely had to guard players a head taller than him. 

This year’s squad loses 10 seniors to graduation, and will still be in a building phase with more inexperienced players needing to step up again next season.

“Our younger players got some great varsity experience, but will be much like this year's group in that they will have to work hard to overcome the overall lack of varsity playing time,” Pierce said. “We had only one player this year that got significant playing time last year. It will be the same next year.”

As for the new coach of the program, that will be decided in the near future.

“We are in the process of looking for a great coach to come in to take over,” Pierce said. “We hope to have someone named to the position within a couple of months.”

According to Pierce, he has coached more than 230 players in his 30-year career and compiled 241 wins as a head coach.

“There were a lot more losses than wins along the way, but I wouldn’t trade any of the experiences I had with some great young men. I thank God for every moment.”

A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

On the girls side, Angela Thompson knew it was going to be a tough year with no seniors. But the unfavorable record hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of her players, all of which will return.

“One thing I can say about it is, they’re excited,” Thompson said. “They’re ready to get started. We’re going to be practicing and keeping that chemistry going. … They texted me right after the (final game) and told me they’re ready to get started practicing.”

The two juniors on the team, guard Janelly Plummer and post player Kadijah Howell-El, improved greatly in their first year as upperclassmen, but Thompson knows it will take another leap in maturity to bring the Lady Vikings back to where they want to be.

“They know they’ve got to step up because it’s their last year,” she said. “And the girls are ready to follow the seniors that we’ll have next year.”

Thompson, head coach at Lakeside since 1998, has led the program to two region titles in her time at the school and is hoping that in the off-season her young group will take the next step towards becoming more competitive in a talented region.

“We’re young, and very excited,” she said. “We will have no bad thoughts about the season.”