A trip to Australia helped Lesley Harmanson improve his game after leading Tekoa Academy to a third-place finish in Class 2A of the Texas Christian Athletic League last year.

“The trip to Australia was really wonderful,” said Harmanson, who joined forces with his coach Melvin Sostand and other young American men last July in earning a silver medal at the Down Under Sports Hoops Classic. “Overall, it helped me really humble myself. If I do the things I’m supposed to do, I can make it somewhere.”

This year, Harmanson and Tekoa have made it back to the TCAL state playoffs in San Antonio.

“The best thing about this team is that we have a talented team,” senior Robert Scott said. “We haven’t found the goal, yet, but if we find the goal, we’ll really be a good team.”

Tekoa’s girls team is there as well, as are Bob Hope’s teams in 3A.

Eighth-grader Ivionna Clark is looking forward to the opportunity to help the Tekoa girls win it all.

“I think if we can work together, we can win,” Clark said. In TCAL, sixth grade is the minimum academic level for a player to be eligible.

The Tekoa boys’ finish last year has bred more success and led to more players on the team, Harmanson said. The Cougars (20-8) have earned the No. 2 seed and will play at 11:30 a.m. Friday against the winner of Thursday’s Seguin Lifegate/Houston Banff winner at the George Gervin Academy. On the other side of the bracket, top-seed School of the Woods of Houston will take on either Poetry Community Christian from near Terrell or Bryan Cornerstone on Friday.

“Last year’s team, we have five or six people on our team,” Harmanson said. “This year, we added some new players, and this year, we’re better than last year because of team chemistry and our athleticism, too.”

The semifinal winners will meet in the championship game at the University of the Incarnate Word at 3 p.m. Saturday.

Sostand is hoping the added depth will carry the Cougars to the championship.

“I think what happened transitioning to us this year was that it gave us more depth,” he said. “It gave us more depth inside as well as around the perimeter. The guys have learned to jell together each game and come together as one.”

The Lady Cougars (7-2) drew the fourth seed and will take on Poetry at 10 a.m. Thursday at AllStar Sportsplex in Universal City. The winner will take on School of the Woods at 4 p.m. Friday at George Gervin Academy for the right to take on either Bryan Cornerstone or Seguin Lifegate at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at UIW.

“The team, we know the dedication towards it, the way we work together and come together as one,” senior center Jon’niya Cotton said.

Both Tekoa teams finished second in District 2-2A. For the Lady Cougars, a new cast has taken on roles that have led to their new setting in San Antonio.

“We have a different group of girls this year playing basketball, and they have more knowledge of basketball and how it’s to be played,” Lady Cougars assistant coach Andonnia Lowe said. “That’s what makes the difference.”

That and a few other intangibles Lowe mentioned: “Hard work, dedication, jelling together as one and, of course, God first.”

Jacolby Cooper is the Lady Cougars’ head coach.

In 3A girls, Bob Hope earned the No. 4 seed a year after the school announced it was moving into TCAL from the University Interscholastic League. The Eagles will face San Antonio’s Harmony School of Excellence at 10 a.m. Thursday at Gervin, with the winner moving on to play Spring Legacy at 1 p.m. Friday at AllStar Sportsplex. That semifinal winner will play either El Paso Faith or San Antonio St. Anthony at noon Saturday at UIW.

The Bob Hope boys team earned the No. 3 seed in 3A and will face St. Anthony at Gervin at 1 p.m. Thursday for a ticket to Saturday’s 6 p.m. final at UIW. Harmony Science Academy of Beaumont and Houston Heights will square off as the fourth and fifth seeds at 1 p.m. Thursday at Gervin, with the winner to take on top-seeded Spring Legacy at 1 p.m. Friday at the same gym.

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I.C. Murrell: 721-2435. Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews