Player Profile: Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
One senior is entering his fourth varsity season, and the other will be playing in his third at the same level. With a soon to-be combined seven seasons at the top level in high school basketball, the duo of Tyler Davidson and Wesley Pierson will be looked upon as the leaders of the 2011-12 Lynchburg-Clay Mustangs as the season is set to begin.
Davidson has been a part of the varsity program since he was a freshman, coming off the bench that season as a back-up point guard. Since his sophomore season, he has played at the point, being one of the top players on previous LC squads.
Staying at the varsity level has taken a lot of work for both players.
"I've been playing since I was little," Davidson said. "I started in the second grade, and I played in the youth leagues in Lynchburg."
"I started playing at the Y when I was five years old, and I also played in the youth leagues," Pierson said.
This being their final season as a member of the LC boys basketball program, they have one goal in mind … to win as many games as possible.
"We want to try to win games … that's about it," Davidson said. "To win games, we have to play hard, so that's what I want to do."
Davidson, as mentioned earlier, will be a four-year varsity player, and he looked at how the game has changed since he suited up his freshman season.
"It's really different. You actually get to tell people what to do in a sense, so that is kind of fun," Davidson said, laughing. "The game has slowed down a little bit as well … I don't get pressured as much, so that is a plus.
"Being a point guard (sometimes bringing the ball down the court) gets tiring sometimes, so I usually have other people bring the ball up the court."
For Pierson, he's about to enter his third year at the varsity level, as he began his varsity career as a sophomore.
"The best part is I have a starting spot … so that's different," Pierson said. "It feels good to have that responsibility to be a starter and to be one of the leaders of this team."
As they are two of the leaders of the Mustangs, both spoke about what they considered a good leader.
"Taking control of a team and making sure the team plays the game the right way," Davidson said. "Make sure nobody gets in trouble in or out of school."
"A good leader always need to keep his teammates in line," Pierson said.
LC head coach Jason McLaughlin spoke about his two leaders.
"Tyler has been a scoring point guard," McLaughlin said. "He's getting close to being a double-digit scorer, and he's been working hard on his scoring this summer. He's that guy on the court (who) when he’s not in there, we're lost.
"Without saying anything, he knows how to handle the ball and get people to their positions. He calms everybody down, and that has an effect on everybody else."
McLaughlin commented on Pierson as well.
"We has really good athleticism and does a lot of things really well," McLaughlin said. "He could be a scorer where he could get 15 to 20 points per game if he wanted to. He has to become a little more aggressive on offense, and he's a really good defensive player.
"He can match up with point guards and with some bigger guys. He's a versatile kid on the court."
The players realize just how important the game is to their community, as the boys basketball has a good tradition in not only Highland County, but in the Southern Hills League as well.
Not only did they talk about the importance of LC basketball, but their expectations of their team this year.
"We take pride in playing for the school," Davidson said. "I want us to play as a team and play good defense, that's really important. Offensively, we have a lot of team speed, and that allows us to run up and down the court, and that is what we like to do."
"We need to play with a lot of intensity," Pierson said. "Our speed, which does help us get up and down the court faster, hopefully gets us easy shots."
Both looked back at the moments that they remember as some of their favorites, and they weren't necessarily games they won, but games that were full of some of the best competition they've ever played against.
"We played Peebles when they were ranked in the state and we lost by a last-second shot," Davidson said. "That was a tough game."
"Last year in the tournament against Peebles we lost by 12, but playing against a team that was that good was fun," Pierson said. "We had a lot of people there cheering for us."
Both play multiple sports as each has played soccer, basketball and baseball for the Mustangs at some point in their high school life.
They said they play for the competition.
"It's just fun," Davidson said. "I just want to win games and have fun … that's important this year. We want to have a better than .500 record this year."
"It's what I've done since I was little … play sports," Pierson said. "We (Pierson and Davidson) have been together since preschool, so it's been awhile."[[In-content Ad]]
Davidson has been a part of the varsity program since he was a freshman, coming off the bench that season as a back-up point guard. Since his sophomore season, he has played at the point, being one of the top players on previous LC squads.
Staying at the varsity level has taken a lot of work for both players.
"I've been playing since I was little," Davidson said. "I started in the second grade, and I played in the youth leagues in Lynchburg."
"I started playing at the Y when I was five years old, and I also played in the youth leagues," Pierson said.
This being their final season as a member of the LC boys basketball program, they have one goal in mind … to win as many games as possible.
"We want to try to win games … that's about it," Davidson said. "To win games, we have to play hard, so that's what I want to do."
Davidson, as mentioned earlier, will be a four-year varsity player, and he looked at how the game has changed since he suited up his freshman season.
"It's really different. You actually get to tell people what to do in a sense, so that is kind of fun," Davidson said, laughing. "The game has slowed down a little bit as well … I don't get pressured as much, so that is a plus.
"Being a point guard (sometimes bringing the ball down the court) gets tiring sometimes, so I usually have other people bring the ball up the court."
For Pierson, he's about to enter his third year at the varsity level, as he began his varsity career as a sophomore.
"The best part is I have a starting spot … so that's different," Pierson said. "It feels good to have that responsibility to be a starter and to be one of the leaders of this team."
As they are two of the leaders of the Mustangs, both spoke about what they considered a good leader.
"Taking control of a team and making sure the team plays the game the right way," Davidson said. "Make sure nobody gets in trouble in or out of school."
"A good leader always need to keep his teammates in line," Pierson said.
LC head coach Jason McLaughlin spoke about his two leaders.
"Tyler has been a scoring point guard," McLaughlin said. "He's getting close to being a double-digit scorer, and he's been working hard on his scoring this summer. He's that guy on the court (who) when he’s not in there, we're lost.
"Without saying anything, he knows how to handle the ball and get people to their positions. He calms everybody down, and that has an effect on everybody else."
McLaughlin commented on Pierson as well.
"We has really good athleticism and does a lot of things really well," McLaughlin said. "He could be a scorer where he could get 15 to 20 points per game if he wanted to. He has to become a little more aggressive on offense, and he's a really good defensive player.
"He can match up with point guards and with some bigger guys. He's a versatile kid on the court."
The players realize just how important the game is to their community, as the boys basketball has a good tradition in not only Highland County, but in the Southern Hills League as well.
Not only did they talk about the importance of LC basketball, but their expectations of their team this year.
"We take pride in playing for the school," Davidson said. "I want us to play as a team and play good defense, that's really important. Offensively, we have a lot of team speed, and that allows us to run up and down the court, and that is what we like to do."
"We need to play with a lot of intensity," Pierson said. "Our speed, which does help us get up and down the court faster, hopefully gets us easy shots."
Both looked back at the moments that they remember as some of their favorites, and they weren't necessarily games they won, but games that were full of some of the best competition they've ever played against.
"We played Peebles when they were ranked in the state and we lost by a last-second shot," Davidson said. "That was a tough game."
"Last year in the tournament against Peebles we lost by 12, but playing against a team that was that good was fun," Pierson said. "We had a lot of people there cheering for us."
Both play multiple sports as each has played soccer, basketball and baseball for the Mustangs at some point in their high school life.
They said they play for the competition.
"It's just fun," Davidson said. "I just want to win games and have fun … that's important this year. We want to have a better than .500 record this year."
"It's what I've done since I was little … play sports," Pierson said. "We (Pierson and Davidson) have been together since preschool, so it's been awhile."[[In-content Ad]]