By Kyle McFadden
WALKERSVILLE- Jogging off the hardwood midway through the third quarter, Thomas Lang was addressed by his head coach, Tom Kraft, in which the two exchanged a casual handshake and a coach patting his workhorse on the back. Lang then made his way down the Linganore bench line to receive a series of high fives and fist pumps from coach’s and teammates before plopping down on a court-side padded chair, panting for air.
Moments removed from assisting his teams latest three buckets and swiping a steal that summated a lopsided affair, Lang sat sapped, until it dawned upon him that his night was over and another win was sealed up and tallied away.
To describe not only Lang’s performance, where he flirted with a quadruple-double at 20 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and eight steals, but his team’s performance as a clinic would be an understatement. Despite Walkersville catching this Linganore (4-0) team at an unfortunate time, the Lancers pounced on the Lions from the start and did not back down as they took a 75-28 victory back to the bus ride home.
“We’ve had some really good starts that’s helped us set the tempo of games so far this season,” Linganore head coach Tom Kraft said. “Though Thomas does a lot, all five of our guys out there are threats.”
For Kraft, it’s the first time he’s hit the 4-0 mark in his 10 years at the helm for Linganore basketball. The four wins that the program has racked up in the young 2015-2016 campaign have been quite impressive to say the least. In their past three games they have taken leads of 23, 32 and 36 points into halftime alone.
This is their second straight win of 47-plus points and all four wins have come by 18-plus points. If that statement doesn’t solely describe how well these Lancers are playing, I’m not sure what will.
“When you have four guys that have played basketball with each other since they were little and a younger brother of one of them as your starting five, it’s irreplaceable,” Kraft said. “All of them have played significant amount of minutes in this program and with each other and it shows.”
For Lang, the recent Division-II Shepherd University commit, it’s his fourth and final year at the varsity level. He’s accompanied by three year varsity starters Carter Schmidt, Jack Staub and Keegan Lane. Lang’s younger brother, Nicholas, has also carved out a starting role. Combine the five together in one lineup and it rivals the best teams in 3A with chemistry alone.
“That’s the most important thing,” the older Lang said. “Jack (Staub), Carter (Schmidt), Keegan (Lane), we’ve all been playing with each other now for over six years and then add my little brother to that, it’s just a fun time”
The Lancers defensive prowess played dividends Tuesday night as they only allowed one field goal in the first half and 27.3% (9 for 33) to the Lions the entire game. Lang also stated that one player his chemistry is unlike any other is with 6-foot-3 forward, Keegan Lane.
“Keegan Lane will always be in the right place at the right time,” he said. “He’s a great teammate … he knows what he’s doing and he does it well.”
Lane finished with 10 points as Lang assisted on three of those five buckets. Linganore shot 51.9% (28 for 54) from the floor on a night where everything seemingly clicked, including a Lang half-court three that banked in at the buzzer to conclude the first half. Also, 11 of Linganore’s 13 players scored in some kind of way.
“Thomas brings everything to the table,” Kraft said. “Poise, leadership, scoring, rebounding, facilitating, defense … just everything. He’s a special player.”
Walkersville (0-1), meanwhile, rounds out a home-opener that was not formulated into the game-plan. As a 47-point loss never feels good, no matter what the circumstances are, only having a handful of practices prior certainly doesn’t help that aspect.
Walkersville’s basketball season was delayed due to the state championship run that their football team made.
“That’s no excuse,” Walkersville head coach Bruce Zimmerman said. “(Linganore) is a great team. We just didn’t execute.”
Linganore will take undefeated aspirations into South Hagerstown on Friday while Walkersville will look to pick up their first win at Governor Thomas Johnson.
“Every time we come out, we make it a priority to stay focused,” Lang said. “We determine our own destiny … we’re all striving to achieve the same goal.”
Linganore’s Carter Schmidt pitched in with seven points and four rebounds. Harry Rasmussen added 11 points and four rebounds while Tyler Fleagle notched five points and five rebounds off the bench for the Lancers. Walkersville’s Kyle Daggett paced the Lions with nine points and six rebounds.
You can follow me on Twitter at @k_fadd and Maryland Sports Access at @MDSportsAccess.
Box score
Linganore 14, 30, 28, 13 – 75
Walkersville 4, 4, 12, 8 – 28
Scoring
Linganore – T.Lang 20, Rasmussen 11, Lane 10, N.Lang 8, Schmidt 7, Fleagle 5, France 4, Fossett 3, Lohneis 3, Eakins 2, Staub 2
Walkersville – Daggett 9, Rosa 5, Spriggs 5, Cea 3, Askins 2, Polce 2, Boards 1
Three-point field goals
Linganore (8) – T.Lang 4, N.Lang 2, Lohneis 1, Schmidt 1
Walkersville (1) – Cea 1
