Lamar State College Port Arthur freshman John Comeaux has played in some big games in his basketball career.
The first came in 2015 when he was a junior on the Class 5A No. 3 Ozen Panthers. They reached the state championship game and fell to Lancaster 59-47. Ozen the following year reached the Region III finals, where the Panthers lost a close one to Fort Bend Elkins, 67-65.
So LSCPA coach Lance Madison does not have to worry about Comeaux getting nervous on the court of the Carl Parker Center too often.
“He has played in a lot of big games,” Madison said. “He comes from a great program at Ozen and was well coached. He was playing with some good players while at Ozen and now is his opportunity to step up and grab the spotlight. He will grow into a producer for us and we are glad to have him.”
Comeaux and the Seahawks are 7-1 overall to start the season and are 0-1 in Region XIV after Wednesday’s 66-61 loss to Tyler Junior College.
Madison got a good one in Comeaux. The point guard is solid on both sides of the court, and when he is on, Comeaux can carry a team on his back.
“John knows he is capable of taking over a game,” Madison added. “Sometimes he puts a little too much on his shoulders right now. He needs to learn to pick and choose. I think that will come with experience. He is still learning the game but his IQ has improved. It is only a matter of time when he starts to play consistently well.”
He averages a team-best 14.3 points a game, dishes out an average of 4.3 assists and grabs 2.6 rebounds. Comeaux has started all eight games for LSCPA and is shooting 44 percent from the floor and 80 percent from the charity stripe.
“The first eight games have been great over here,” Comeaux said. “The biggest difference between high school and college is the mental toughness it takes here. The game is faster and you have to react the right ways.”
Comeaux knows his past success at Ozen prepared him for the college level.
“Those games at Ozen prepared me mentally for college basketball,” he added. “It got me mentally tough. I was ready when I came here.”
One of the possible hard parts of coming to play at a two-year school like LSCPA is the coming and going of players each year. Some players come to LSCPA as sophomores and only play a single season, one example being Colton Weisbrod who is now starting at Lamar University.
Comeaux knew Tuesday was going to be a challenge for LSCPA. Tyler came in with four guys having signed Division I scholarships with two headed to Washington State and another signed withPurdue. The fourth is linked with Morehead State.
“We needed that game,” he said. “We were all starting to get ahead of ourselves. We know we have to now work even harder. That is just the first conference game with many more to come.”
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Gabriel Pruett: 721-2436. Twitter: @PaNewsGabe