Schools
God and basketball in LCA loss
The first 'L' for Lighthouse Christian Academy is for 'learning,' including lessons off court.
Since he got his life back, Daniel O'Neil has got his academics back on track and something even more meaningful to him: basketball.
Lighthouse Christian Academy has to be grateful. The 6'3" center won almost every rebound in LCA's 36-68 loss to AGBU Vatch and Tamar Manoukian High School of Pasadena, last year's league runner-up.
"I'm not used to playing this good. I've always been real hesitant with the ball but I'm getting confident with boxing people out on rebounds and stuff," Danny says. "I was sent to wilderness (rehab camp) over the summer, and I really got connected with God."
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Danny's loved basketball since the fifth grade, but when he started to get in trouble in his sophomore year, he dropped the sport. When he got his life back on track, basketball rebounded too.
"Basketball means a lot to me. I stopped playing in my sophomore year because I got into a lot of trouble," he says. Camp was a lot of hiking, therapy and work. It was hard and only God helped he get through, he says. He enrolled in Lighthouse which looks out for spiritual side in forming maturity in young men and women. LCA offers a three strand cord: academics, sports and Christianity.
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So, Danny can smile, even though he and the team were blasted by the Spartans Thursday. LCA had won the four games prior.
"Juniors and seniors, upperclassmen on the other team, guys who have been playing together for a long time, they were extremely well coached," said Lighthouse Coach David Horowitz. "We needed to see a team like that so we could grow to our potential. Today we couldn't just show up and win. We had to execute a plan."
The Spartans picked off passes and stole balls. They were quicker on their feet than the Saints. AGBU has played basketball since 2006, Lighthouse since November 2019. Naturally, the Spartans, a team with practices at 6:00 a.m., moved well in concert. They nailed quite a few 3-pointers and some tricky layups.
"We weren't able to gain the type of momentum" to turnaround the game, Coach David said. "We grew a little bit, but where we grew mostly was we learned what are the areas we need to work on.
"I'm glad we played that game. The next time we play them, we'll either win or it will be a really close game."
