Area teams look to new faces to replace last year's producers Posted On: Saturday, Nov. 28 2009 05:33 AM By Angel Verdejo
Killeen Daily Herald

Raheem Odomes became the only known 1,000-point scorer in Copperas Cove history last year and first Bulldawg in nine years to sign a national letter of intent to play basketball in college.

Heath Hopson, last season's District 25-4A most valuable player, graduated as Lampasas' all-time leader in scoring, rebounding and blocks, while also setting the single-season mark with 27.2 points per game.

Cory Jefferson was named the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Class 4A Player of the Year last year and helped lead Killeen to three consecutive 30-win seasons and four straight district titles.

But the trio has moved on to the college ranks, which now begs the question: Who is going to fill the shoes left by Jefferson (now at Baylor), Hopson (Trinity University) and Odomes (East Texas Baptist)?

Ask their respective head coaches, or any coach that graduates his go-to player and most will usually say the same thing.

"You don't," Killeen coach Jason Fossett said. "You've got to get a group of guys to kind of come together and everybody chip in and do their part."

Said Lampasas coach Scott Harrelson: "I don't think you can replace him with one player. I think that a number of players have to step up and fill in roles."

You don't replace a Jefferson, Hopson or Odomes. Not with just one guy.

While the responsibility may become a shared load, someone still has to step into that position.

Multiple players can't start at Jefferson's former post position or Odomes' spot in the backcourt.

That's brings us to Killeen's Ta'Shawn Thomas, Lampasas' Eduardo Davila and Cove's Antonio Clemons, each of whom is literally taking over the vacated spots left by Jefferson, Hopson and Odomes.

Jefferson was a fixture in Killeen's frontcourt since his sophomore season. The two-time all-state selection averaged 19.8 points, 14.7 rebounds and 6.1 blocks per game A top recruit, he and Hopson both played in July's Texas High School Coaches Association All-Star basketball game, with Jefferson winning the dunk contest.

"(Cory) was kind of a quiet leader," Fossett said. "Always did things right and that's the thing you miss, too. Things that were going on outside of basketball, you miss from him, as well, Like he was always the first one to practice, always one of the last ones to leave, never missed."

Thomas is three inches shorter than Jefferson, but the 6-foot-6 junior has shown ability to control the interior on both ends of the court. He had a team-high 15 points Tuesday against Harker Heights, including six of Killeen's first nine.

"I think Ta'Shawn has the ability to do a lot of things that Cory did but you also need other guys around him that also have to pick up that slack, too," Fossett said.

Hopson was picked as 25-4A's MVP despite the Badgers winning just one district game and playing against top recruits in Jefferson and Austin Lake Travis' Jordan Jahr (Air Force). He rewrote the Lampasas record book while facing double- and triple-teams on defense.

"That's what we're trying to find right now is who's going to fill those roles and have different double-figure scorers every game," Harrelson said. "No one person will fill that role, at least this year, and I don't see in the close future because he was able to do multiple things: rebound, block shots and score at the same time."

Davila, along with sophomores Secody Howard and Brandon Scott, will be asked to do much of the work Hopson left behind. Lampasas also has experience with six returning lettermen working in its favor.

Harrelson said Davila, like Hopson, can play inside and cause trouble for opponents while also stepping out on the perimeter. He put up 24 points in the opener against Belton.

"We have to have other guys step up," Harrelson said. "We have some young kids that are playing that position that can go inside and outside but not with the efficiency as Heath. Those three guys are sharing the role."

Odomes quickly became a varsity standout, leading the Dawgs in shooting percentage and rebounding in each of his three seasons and was twice selected as the program's "Top Dawg" by teammates.

His 20.9 points per game last season were more than the next three players combined. A 12-5A all-district pick, Odomes also received one MVP vote on a team that won just a single district game.

"Raheem was probably one of the better players in Central Texas," said coach Billy White, Cove's first-year head coach and former varsity assistant. "So, it's tough to fill a player like Raheem's shoes, but Antonio is one of the guys that we're trying to get that, especially the scoring void filled."

Clemons, a 6-3 forward, has led Cove in scoring in its three games, including a 21-point outing in a season-opening loss at Austin Akins. White said he talked to Clemons before the season about playing his game not only in every game, but every possession. The senior has also shown more leadership ability, White said, becoming more of a vocal leader as opposed to just doing so by example.

"We go at it as a team," White said. "We're not going to go into it saying, 'Oh, we want Antonio to do everything.' Everyone needs to pull their part, pull their weight and get what we need to get taken care of, and everything will fall into place."

Kevin Posival contributed to this report.

Contact Angel Verdejo at averdejo@kdhnews.com or at (254) 501-7564.