Lake Highland Prep boys basketball is this week's winner of the Florida Team of the Week, presented by the Florida National Guard.
Photo by Fabian Radulescu
It's not easy to replace a 10-year NBA veteran player. Tougher still to take over a program coming off a school's first state championship.
But that's what Jason Vallery has done and thus far he hasn't missed a beat. Or many shots.
The
Lake Highland Prep (Orlando) coach has the Highlanders off to a 17-4 start in defense of the school's 4A state title.
Joel Berry, Lake Highland Prep
Photo by Fabian Radulescu
Led by one of the state's leading scorers,
Joel Berry (25.1 points per game), Lake Highland Prep is
No. 7 in the state computer rankings.
For their drive and success, the Highlanders are the MaxPreps Florida Team of the Week, presented by the Florida National Guard.
"We try to focus on the same thing all season long — play outstanding defense, run whenever we can in transition and set up our teammates for high-percentage shots," said Vallery.
Vallery replaced Jeff Turner, who played 10 seasons in the NBA, and was the Highlanders' coach for eight seasons. Turner was in the Orlando Magic front office before taking Lake Highland's leadership development program.
Turner is still at the school as an associate athletic director, but handed over the reigns to Vallery, who was the head coach at Lake Highland for two seasons before being replaced by Turner.
Vallery has been on the staff ever since, so the transition apparently has been smooth.
The Highlanders were in full flight last week with wins over Osceola (91-66) and Crooms (73-18).
In the win over Osceola, the North Carolina-signee Berry had 26 points on 10-of-14 from the field, including a pair of 3-pointers. Highland Park made 10 3-pointers on the day in just 22 attempts.
"(Berry) is not just a great player, but a great person," said Vallery. "He is both the best player and best person I have ever coached."
Senior
Jay Henderson had 17 points,
Jaren Lewis 12 and
Devon Giddens and
Michael Albertson added eight apiece. A 25-12 spurt out of the gate was all the Highlanders needed against a strong Osceola squad (15-6).
In the win over Crooms, sophomore
Arlen Bockhorn led the way with 16 points, Lewis had 12,
John Gall 11 and Henderson 10.
For the season, the 6-foot, 185-pound point guard Berry averages an impressive 7.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.7 steals per game. His season high is 40 points in a 73-68 win over Apex.
Jay Henderson, Lake Highland Prep
Photo by Fabian Radulescu
"Joel is not just a scorer — he leads us in several other statistical categories," said Vallery. "He scores when we need him to, but does a great job of setting up his teammates as well. He is truly an extension of the coach on the floor."
He started the season making a strong statement with games of 36 and 34 points and since then he's been pretty much a model of consistency.
In his last five games, he's gone for 26, 26, 24, 22 and 31. Like most good scorers, he's very effective at the foul line, shooting 86 percent (136 of 159).
He's not a one-man show by any means.
Henderson, a 6-4 guard, is averaging 11.7 points per game and Lewis, a 6-3 junior, is averaging 9.4. No one else averages more than 6.0 points per game.
Lewis is the team's leading rebounder at 8.6 per game.
The Highlanders have five scheduled games in the regular season. They host Trinity Prep (18-4) on Friday.
"The team wants to repeat as state champs on the court but leave a legacy off it," said Vallery. "If we play within our core system and values and bring intensity and focus to everything we do in our daily lives, we will achieve both come season's end."
MaxPreps editorial assistant Kirstin Beal contributed to this report.
