Memorial Titans second-year head coach Alden Lewis says he’s growing right alongside the rest of his team as they build chemistry and get ready for district opponents.

“It’s a continuous learning deal,” Lewis said. “I have a great staff that’s been doing an excellent job and helping me prepare every day. I’m growing just as much as they’re growing and it’s a challenge everyday. I look forward to the challenge, and hopefully year two will by my best year so far in my short coaching career.”

Lewis is certainly off to a good start. The Titans are 7-1 as of Thursday, winning their last three games against West Orange-Stark on Tuesday (77-43) and their first two games at the Clear Creek Tournament against Texas City (59-46) and Clear Springs (52-40)

The Titans’ only loss came at the hands of Concordia Lutheran on Nov. 29, and then only by one point, 64-63.

“We didn’t execute sometimes when we needed,” Lewis said. “We had a few slipups defensively, and it was just a lack of execution that game. Something I tell my kids all the time is we have to execute offensively and defensively to win the game. The team’s not going to lie down and let us do whatever, we have to come prepared and stay prepared throughout the whole game.”

Getting through to his players is the core of a coach’s job, and it’s one of the most challenging aspects Lewis has found so far.

“They have a lot of energy, they have a lot of other things going on outside of school, so it’s tough managing them and making sure they’re doing the right things on and off the court, because I know they are the reason why we are here and our success lies upon them,” Lewis said. “It’s just about trying to groom young men.”

Right now Lewis is trying to get those young men to build trust. The Titans bounced back from their loss but there are still more games and tournament play that the Titans will face before playing Barbers Hill on Jan. 3, the first of Memorial’s district games.

“I just talked to my kids about building trust,” Lewis said. “Once we start really trusting one another and building that team chemistry, I think the sky’s the limit for us. We have the talent and we have what it takes as far as players. We’ve just got to do the little things, the little details and we’ll be good as a team and ready to take off from there.

“Overall the season is going good. We’re building chemistry and trying to take it as far as we can. We’ve got a couple of tournaments coming up and a couple of other games that will hopefully will prepare us for district. Hopefully we’ll have a good district season which will prepare us for playoffs.”