By EJ Holland Photos by Stewart Johnson
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Eric McDade isbrin his fourth yearbras head coach
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And while the boys basketball program has seenbrsome success in his tenure, it remains a work inbrprogress. The Dragons have missed the playoffs inbrback-to-back seasons and haven't won a district titlebrsince 2002.br
Southlake Carroll currently sits at 13-12 overall,brand is in a dogfight to end its postseason hiatus.brBut with some late season progress, there is plentybrto be optimistic about.br
“We just want to continue to progress as abrprogram,” McDade says. “I feel like our programbrhas been on the rise. We just have to play a littlebrbit better. But overall, we've been pleased with thebrway we've been able to progress.”br
If there is one thing McDade knows how tobrdo, it's win. Prior to arriving at Southlake Carroll,brMcDade was considered one of the best coachesbrin the state. He led his teams to the playoffs in 12brof his 13 seasons as head coach, including a trip tobrthe 2009 Class 4A state tournament at MansfieldbrTimberview.br
Despite not having much playoff success atbrSouthlake Carroll, McDade has formed a solidbrfoundation in a program that has made incrementalbrimprovements. Every year under his watch,brSouthlake Carroll has finished .500 or better.br
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The Dragons, however, knew they had somewhatbrof an uphill battle this year after losing its twobrleading scorers in Kirk Mason and Hunter Summy.brStill, McDade says he's been impressed with howbrhis team has come together.
“Leadership and experience should keepbrhelping this team,” McDade says. “They havebra point of reference. They know about thebrgrind and have experience. They know theybrcan’t take anything for granted in districtbror get overconfident. They understand thebrmagnitude of every game.”
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Southlake Carroll opened its 2015-16brseason with a loss to Justin Northwestbrbut showed some promise in the MagnoliabrTournament in Houston as it split games andbrtook down Katy Morton Ranch and ClearbrSprings.br
The next three games served as gutbrpunches for the Dragons. SouthlakebrCarroll fell to both Grapevine and PlanobrWest in overtime and missed an opportunitybrto knock off Trophy Club Byron Nelson in abrfour-point loss.br
Southlake Carroll, however, rebounded inbrthe Lions Club Tournament, defeating bothbrEl Paso Andress and Converse Judson beforebrfalling to Cedar Hill. After back-to-backbrwins over Houston Madison and Mansfield,brSouthlake Carroll looked like it was on thebrverge of a breakthrough.br
Unfortunately for McDade and his squad,brthe Dragons took a wrong turn and sufferedbrthree straight losses to North Crowley,brParkview (Ark.) and Arlington Martin to closebrout non-district play.br
“I think particularly in non-conferencebrplay, it's really important to assess where youbrare,” McDade says. “You have to play strongbrcompetition to make sure you're ready forbrdistrict play and the grind of that. And webrdid play a really tough schedule.br
“We played some of the best competitionbrin the state. Region I in general has somebrof the best basketball and the Metroplex isbrloaded with talent. So we felt like we gotbrready for district.”br
Senior guard Cooper Osburn adds:br
“I think it's helped us in district with end ofbrgame scenarios. We played a lot of athleticbrteams. Our district has some guards that arebrfilling it up, but the non-district helped usbrby playing high level competition, so we canbrplay with anyone in the state.”br
Osburn is one of three three-year seniorbrlettermen on this team—the other two arebrguard Tyson Smiter and guard/forwardbrLil'Jordan Humphrey. Fellow senior JoeybrMcCormick has also been a big presencebrdown low.br
Their wealth of experience should comebrin handy as Southlake Carroll gets into thebrmeat of district play.br
Humphrey joined the team after a stellarbrsenior season on the field. The 6-foot-5, 200-pounder racked up more than 2,000 yardsbrof total offense and holds scholarships frombrCalifornia, Wisconsin, Texas and others.
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With a little more than a month under his belt,brHumphrey, who is the team's top scorer, feels likebrhe is now in full basketball mode.br
“The biggest thing I had to get done wasbrget my legs back,” Humphrey says. “I had tobrregain my ability to jump and get back mybrconditioning. I feel like I did that pretty fast,brand now I'm focused on helping my team win.”br
Southlake Carroll currently sits at 3-2 in districtbrplay after knocking off Richland, ColleyvillebrHeritage and Haltom. Both of the Dragons' lossesbrto Euless Trinity and Coppell came by a combinedbrfour points.br
With a little more luck, Southlake Carroll couldbreasily be undefeated in district play. Smiterbrbelieves the team just needs to correct a fewbrminor issues in order to avoid dropping keybrgames down the stretch.br
“Those two games we lost to Trinity andbrCoppell, we lost on our own,” he says. “We turnedbrthe ball, missed free throws and did those types ofbrthings that you can't do. Coming into the secondbrhalf, we just have to correct those things.”
The Dragons were in a similar position at this point inbrthe year last season but failed to make the playoffs.brBut this season's team just has a different vibe.
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“It's been tough because you're right there, andbryou don't get over the hump,” Smiter says. “This year,brwe're in the same place. Being that last year we didn'tbrmake the playoffs, it's a different mindset becausebryou know you have to go hard in the second half ofbrdistrict or you won't be in the playoffs.”br
Coming off back-to-back district wins, Smiter addsbrthat the team goal is to win out and head into thebrplayoffs on a nine-game winning streak. But McDadebrdoesn't want the team to get too far ahead of itself.br
His golden rule: Take it one game at a time.br
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“The biggest key for us now is to just take it onebrgame at a time,” McDade says. “We just want to staybrin the moment and not look ahead. We want to enjoybrthe year, play our best basketball in this stretch runbrand create some excitement.”
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Lil'Jordan Posts Big Stats
Behind Lil'Jordan Humphrey, the 2015 7-6AbrOffensive Player of the Year, SouthlakebrCarroll's football team averaged 42 pointsbrper game. The bruising 6-5 athlete left it allbrout on the field for head coach Hal Wassonbraccounting for 2,182 yards of total offensebrand 22 touchdowns. Humphrey rushed at anbrimpressive 7.1 yards per carry for 1,306 yardsbrand 14 touchdowns. He also topped the teambrwith 57 receptions, eight of which were forbrscores.br
When it comes to basketball, Lil'Jordan's justbras potent. He is head coach Eric McDade's top returning scorer from the 2014-15 season.
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