WINONA LAKE – There isn’t a lot of sugar coating to it. Lakeland Christian Academy had a tough boys basketball season last winter, and really can only go up from where it was.

Second-year head coach Chris Hohm is very optimistic some of the bugs that bit the team last year have been worked out. Having the summer and fall workouts now behind them, Hohm feels his club is better prepared entering play.

“The second year is much smoother,” Hohm said, whose club was 1-22 last season. “The boys understand the system better, know the expectations, and can add to what they learned last year, as opposed to starting over with everything new. We had a good summer with the boys working hard at getting better, so I’m excited to see how that translates to playing against other teams.

The Cougars struggled on both ends of the court, averaging just under 40 points per game while giving up nearly 70 a night.

“Last year we struggled a lot with low-efficiency on offense and a lack of team defense,” noted Hohm. “We have worked a lot on individual improvement on offense and having each other’s backs on defense. Both of those flaws from last year should be smaller this year. Our hope is to build on what we learned last year and take a step forward on both ends of the floor.”

LCA brings back most of its floor leadership from last season. Returning are its top four scorers, including seniors Connor Blum (11.3 ppg), Carter Twombly (10.0 ppg) and Jon Harmon (8.4 ppg) along with sophomore Josh McDaniel (7.0 ppg).

Blum is also the top rebounder at 3.3 rpg and Harmon pulled down 3.1 rpg last season. Harmon also led the squad with 28 assists last season and had 32 steals. McDaniel was second on the club in assists and steals.

“Josh McDaniel has really stepped up and been a leader for us this summer and fall,” Hohm said. “He is learning how to be a vocal leader as well as putting in the time to develop his game and lead by example when he plays. We will be looking to Josh, Jon Harmon, and Connor Blum for leadership this year. Those are my three captains. Jon and Connor are returning seniors who will also need to be leaders on and off the floor for us.”

Hohm also likes what he has seen from Carter Twombly and his brother, sophomore Noah, as well as sophomore Elijah Raymond and freshman Jake Harmon, Jon’s younger brother.

“We feel as though we have made good growth from where we were last year,” Hohm said. “We can handle the press better than we could at the beginning of the year last year, so we are looking for that to help us not start in the big holes that we began several games in last year. We do have a tough start to the season, so we have to continue to learn on the fly and make the adjustments that we need to stay in those games.”

LCA opens its varsity calendar Tuesday, Nov. 24, at Caston.