Sheryl Lee Brunet Nelton
February 19, 2014
Colonels’ hoops relying on leaders for offense
February 19, 2014
Houma’s only lion didn’t waste much time in his quest to become a productive collegiate basketball player.
Houma native and Vandebilt Catholic graduate Lionheart Leslie is shining bright in his true freshman season for Blinn College in Brenham, Texas – a junior college that is a member of the Region XIV Conference.
Through 27 games, Blinn has a 16-11 record – a huge turnaround from the losing season the Buccaneers posted in 2012-13. Leslie is a big factor in the team’s success, averaging 8.8 points (third on the team) and 3.5 assists per game (second on the team) for a Blinn squad battling for conference seeding as the regular season draws to a close in the coming weeks.
Leslie said he’s honored to be able to make such a big splash so early in his career. As one of the only freshmen seeing significant playing time on Blinn’s roster, it is easy to speculate that Leslie will be among the team’s standout players next season.
“It’s a great feeling,” Leslie said. “To be able to come in here and prove myself with these guys out there – it’s just an awesome experience. A lot of people think junior college ball is a joke. It’s not a game out here. We have some of the best players here at this level. At Blinn, we’ve played against guys going to Ole Miss, LSU, and some of the top programs here. Some of my teammates are going to legit schools and everything, too. To be able to have the success that I’ve had is something that gives me a lot of confidence as we move forward to the final games of the season.”
Leslie said the shift to collegiate basketball has been filled with challenges. For starters, Leslie’s role has had to change from his days donning the Terrier blue and gold.
At Vandebilt, Leslie was a slashing wing and a pure scorer – the heart and soul of Vandebilt’s offense. If Leslie didn’t have 20 or more points in a given game, the Terriers had little chance to win – he was relied upon heavily to carry the team’s offensive workload.
And that formula worked. Under the standout guard’s leadership, Vandebilt was unquestionably the top prep basketball program in the Tri-parish area, winning multiple district titles, while posting a multi-season winning streak at home.
But in the college ranks, Leslie has been asked to be a more traditional point guard, often times asked to use his penetration skills to generate offense for other players, most notably teammate Macari Brooks, who averages 20.5 points per game as a sophomore.
Brooks is headed to Bradley at the end of the 2013-14 season at Blinn – a junior college that molds players for the freshmen and sophomore seasons before turning them over to traditional four-year universities for the completion of their playing careers.
“It’s been a little bit of a change for me,” Leslie said. “At high school, we all sort of knew that if myself or Elijah (McGuire) didn’t get most of the points, then we would really have a tough time in that game. But here at college, my scoring is a bonus. They want me to focus more on getting guys involved and playing good defense.”
Leslie said the attention to detail at Blinn has also been something that caught his attention. Leslie said that Buccaneers’ coach Scott Schumacher has taught him a lot about some of the little intricacies that he took for granted while at Vandebilt.
The Houma native and younger brother of the area’s only female professional basketball player, Sumar Leslie, Lionheart said that there’s no doubt that he is a better player today than when he enrolled at Blinn last summer.
“That’s easy – I’ve definitely come a long way,” Leslie said. “The competition here is so much better, so you really have to go 100 percent at all times or they are going to leave you behind. Our coaches here make sure that you’re always staying focused and doing the little things right. That’s the easiest way to stay on the floor and get consistent minutes – by playing inside the system that we have here.”
So with the regular season drawing to a close, Leslie said he’s happy with his freshman season, but not yet fully satisfied with the way everything has gone for the Bucs in the win/loss column.
Blinn’s 16-11 record is a significant improvement from the 12-19 mark the team posted last season. But the Buccaneers have lost six games by five points or less – something that doesn’t sit well with the former Vandebilt Catholic All-State performer.
Leslie said winning those close games is his focus as the team heads into its final games of the regular season.
“They keep telling us how we’re doing better than last year, but I wasn’t here last year, so I don’t really appreciate that,” Leslie said. “All I know is that we lost some games we should have won. And we want to go out there, play the best that we can and win the rest of our games. We don’t want to leave anything out there on the table. We’ve done that too much this season. It’s time we win a few of those games to close out the year.”
Blinn College freshman guard Lionheart Leslie makes a move to the basket during a game this season. The former Vandebilt Catholic standout is among the top freshmen players for the Bucs, who are having a winning season in 2013-14 after struggling last year. Leslie is among the top scorers and playmakers for the team on the season.
