By Cris Greer
WKTV Managing Editor
An 89-68 win Tuesday over Grand River Prep gave the Lee boys their first outright conference championship in 43 years … well before Coach Dominic Shannon was born.
“This is special,” Shannon said. “Our first outright conference championship since 1980 — I was born in 1986.”
A huge turnaround
Lee now sits atop the Alliance League at 7-0 and is 17-1 overall. Last year, the Legends were 2-6 in the league and 5-16 overall.
Shannon said he noticed last fall that the team had potential, and “with some grooming, could be good.”
“With a strong start to the season and the togetherness the boys began showing early in the season, our conversation as coaches began to shift to something great and something special,” Shannon explained. “We began the conversation of ‘leaving the mark,’ and now their team will forever be remembered.”
As far as the Legends win over GRP, Shannon talked about his unselfish team that has improved each game.
“We finished the game with 23 assists … we share the ball and enjoy sharing the ball, making it easy to coach,” he said. “Joe Russau and Marc Whitfield receive the majority of the press, rightfully so, but they would tell you just like I know that the team is a team. There have been a few games this year where we have five student-athletes in double figures and that’s a credit to our unselfishness.
“Ny’Zhem Marshall stands at 6-4 and nearly averages a double-double for us. Clarence Lewis is one of the best on-ball defenders in the state — Jr Metcalf is a talented freshman point guard with much potential and Leto Mena, with his willingness to stay ready and provide great energy for the team each night.”
Shannon said the coaches entered the season expecting to continue shifting the culture of the athletic environment at Lee High School.
“Me working in the school district is also having an impact as it’s allowing relationships to grow,” he explained. “By shifting the culture, we set expectations and hold each other accountable; student-athletes and coaching staff. Last year, our team didn’t perform in regards to our record, but I do believe the foundation was laid for the basketball program.
“I really credit my college coaching experience for my preparation of myself and of the coaching staff. We all perform well and it makes my job easy as the head coach. Capturing the outright conference title is huge and will drive us into March as we build towards the Breslin Center. We want to ride this momentum and continue our rebuild of the program.
“We want to be around for a while and plan to be around for a while.”
