KATY—If Seven Lakes senior guard Grant Van Hoozer doesn’t tear his ACL and miss his junior season last year, then sophomore guard A.J. Bates Jr. is on the JV and isn’t as advanced in his career as he is now.
If senior guard Tahaad Davis doesn’t go back home to California to stay with a parent last year, he probably doesn’t discover the focus and drive, from enduring a bad knee injury, that’s made him one of the top talents in the Greater Houston area this season.
If Van Hoozer and Davis are available last season, then senior forward Ethan Van Horn probably doesn’t get the opportunity and freedom to expand his perimeter game and develop into a consistent outside shooting post player.
“There’s a lot of moving pieces,” Seven Lakes coach Shannon Heston said. “It’s been awesome to see everyone’s growth.”
And if none of that happens, then the Spartans likely aren’t district champions for the first time since 2013-14. Seven Lakes is back on top following an eight-year hiatus after routing Taylor, last season’s district champ, 59-40 at home on Wednesday evening in each team’s district finale.
The Spartans are 32-4 and finished district play 11-1 heading into the bi-district playoffs next week. Davis scored a team-high 14 points against the Mustangs. Bates added 11 points, five rebounds, four assists. Van Horn had three points and five rebounds. Van Hoozer had five assists and three steals.
It was this same game last year that Taylor beat Seven Lakes, 69-39, to claim the district title outright and prevent a share of it with the Spartans.
“It feels good to get our get-back against Taylor,” Davis said. “No disrespect to Taylor, great game by them, but the disrespect they gave us last year when I wasn’t here … Coach Heston made us watch that today. He let us know that they called a timeout with 30 seconds left and started celebrating early. We didn’t take that lightly.”
A lot of inspiration was derived from last year’s meeting. With about 30 seconds left Wednesday, ahead by 19, Heston, too, returned the favor and called a timeout to allow his boys to start celebrating early.
“I credit last year’s failure and losing that big game for the district title,” Van Horn said. “We were a really young team, and we learned a lot. It really helped us this year, as far as us wanting it and knowing what to expect.
“Last year, we didn’t know how to take a team’s best punch. This year, we’ve been taking it the entire time and we learned how to roll with them.”
Heston said the district championship is a culmination of guys seeing their reward first-hand from all the time and work they’ve put in.
“A lot of times, if you’re willing to put in the work, it takes time to see the results,” Heston said. “That’s what we’ve been preaching for two years. We had really good success early last year that allowed a lot of buy-in from the kids coming into this year. We were able to build off it.”
The title is also a product of a drastic philosophical shift.
Under previous longtime coach Dan Miller, the Spartans were a defensive-minded, halfcourt-oriented team that wanted games played in the 40s. But with the program’s growing numbers and a rapidly evolving talent base, Heston switched to a more offensive identity last season.
Now he emphasizes pushing tempo and wants games at least in the 60s. Of the Spartans’ 32 wins, 26 have come with them scoring at least 60 points. They are undefeated when doing so.
“It was a smart switch,” Van Hoozer said. “Defense wins championships, but this is a team with a lot of good scorers. We have an offense that gets our crowd hyped. It gets our momentum going and really brings to the success of the team.”
The Spartans this season have reached a comfort zone with their newfound ways. There’s athleticism and rim-scrapers in Davis, Bates, and junior post Josh Akpovwa. There’s shooting in Bates, Van Hoozer, and Van Horn. There’s playmaking galore with Davis, Bates, and Van Hoozer.
“They’re back to being basketball players, instead of guys just trying to figure stuff out,” Heston said. “Now they’re going out, reacting and playing. You can tell in their speed of the game.”
It’s a lot the Spartans have been through over the past two years. Almost like a movie with all the compelling storylines.
“It made it a lot more special for us,” Van Hoozer said. “My senior season was a lot more special for me because of my knee. ‘T’ (Davis) coming back. We have a lot of senior leadership on our bench, and it’s just the way we play together. Everybody is unselfish. Nobody tries to force anything. We have great team chemistry. We have a great locker room.”
The story, however, is far from over.
“It’s not done,” Davis said. “The job’s not finished.”