In basketball, the Saints pass chemistry class

By Stephen Lahood --

After winning its third straight basketball game, Lighthouse Christian Academy credits for its breakout success its science program, specifically, chemistry class.

"A young team playing their third game together is going to have to go through some growing pains every time a game starts, so the first quarter is going to be a little rough," says David Horowitz. "But as we play, the team chemistry, the cohesiveness, begins to show up on the court and in the second, third and fourth quarter, the team bonds and does nothing but get better and stronger."

Pilgrim School just west of Downtown Los Angeles of was fired-up. With a couple of towering players (one was 6'4", another was 6'1"), the Patriots looked to notch their first victory against the inexperienced Saints, who debuted this year.

But Lighthouse tightened up its game by the end of the first quarter, down 13-17. In the second quarter, LCA took the lead with Pilgrim close behind 26-22. In the critical third quarter the Saints pulled away 45-35.

Senior Zachary Brewer, at shooting guard, had an exceptional game, netting 22 points. Junior Daniel O'Neil at center scored 13 facing up against his 6'4" opponent.

After senior Marcus Scribner sunk a 3-pointer in the fourth quarter, he hustled back on defense and stole the ball to follow up with an easy layup. The wild crowd, which was firing up Pilgrim the whole game, went quiet. It was a final nail in the coffin.

Good team work. In other words, chemistry. The Saints are great friends on and off the court: "Team chemistry as taught by the great teachers at Lighthouse Christian," Horowitz says. "It's the way the guys want to play. They don't ever come into the timeouts frustrated. They come into the time wants wanting to get better. Guys being humble. Aggressive, but humble."

Lighthouse was first a football school, since its head pastor at Lighthouse Church was an NFL player. Then Lighthouse became something of a soccer school. This is the first year (in a very long time) that LCA has even had a basketball team.

"The second half was flawless -- the passing, the rebounding, the togetherness," Horowitz says. "We had a little bit of foul trouble on the road, but everybody stepped up and we really won going away. It was only a 7-point victory because they ended up getting a couple of late shots when we gave them space, but it was double-digit victory in terms of the way we played.

"The game was in hand the whole time. We silenced the crowd."

Stephen Lahood is a sophomore at Lighthouse Christian Academy in Santa Monica, and he plays on the basketball team.