JOHNSTOWN – Growing pains don’t get this young lion down.
Levi Lyons, a physical 6-foot-1 sophomore forward/center on the Danville boys basketball team, is becoming a leader on the hardwood as his young and talented teammates grow around him.
Lyons’ shoulders are broad enough to carry the burden that will be placed on them in the next couple of years.
“He’s a really solid kid, and he plays football too,” Danville coach Matt Moore said. “We have a lot of young kids, but only two seniors and two juniors. The rest are sophomores and freshmen. We’re very young. We’re learning each game and we’re getting better. We just need to put a full 32 minutes together to be successful, and it’s going to take every single one of our guys to be successful. When we put it all together, we’re going to be a very good basketball team, and that’s going to come sooner than later.”
Lyons led visiting Danville’s scorers with 12 points in an otherwise frustrating game for the Blue Devils on Saturday, Jan. 2, who lost to host Northridge 65-37.
Northridge grabbed 21 steals, led by Zach Holder with four. Ian Travis was the Vikings’ top scorer with 17 points. The Vikings also pulled down 30 rebounds to Danville’s 10 with Adam Ulery and Justin Townley leading the way with seven apiece.
Northridge ran off 17 unanswered points to start the game, but Danville fought back in the third quarter. Lyons dropped in eight of the Blue Devils’ 13 points in the frame and added a block. He and his teammates held the Vikings (4-4) to three field goals in the third.
“Levi was aggressive tonight,” Moore said. “I thought that this was one of his most aggressive, confident games. He’s a tremendous worker in practice and a very coachable kid. He’s getting better every day. As he is improving, he’s making his teammates better.”
Even Lyons isn’t sure what was behind Saturday’s scoring outburst.
“I don’t know,” he said. “It was just around that time that I just made a shot or two, and then I just started getting going — getting warmed up. Then as I started making more shots, I got more and more confident and more aggressive, going to the hoop.”
Lyons, who enjoys Civil War and Revolutionary War history, has one eye on the past and the other on the future as his role with the Devils (0-7) continues to evolve.
“I can definitely give a lot more offense to the team this year than last year,” he said. “I haven’t always shown it this year, but I’m doing more on offense. I still like to contribute on defense or wherever I can. It’s just effort — just flying around, trying to make plays.”
