By Paul Garrod
Staff Writer
LAWRENCE – A Detroit Lions star football player recently gave a shout out on social media to the Lawrence Tigers varsity basketball team and their quest for a repeat basketball district championship.
In a Facebook post by David Miller on Feb. 21, Amon-Ra St. Brown, a wide receiver for the Lions, said, “I’ve heard you guys haven’t had the best season, the best regular season yet, but you have been playing well as of late. That’s good. I promise you momentum is a thing in sports whether it’s football, basketball, soccer, whatever it is. Momentum is huge. If you guys can carry that momentum to the playoffs, postseason, whatever you guys call it, you will do just fine. I promise.”
The Tigers won the district championship last year. “You have a real shot of repeating,” said St. Brown. “Listen to your coaches. They know what they’re talking about. They know what’s best for the team.”
He added, “You have a great group of guys who are Lions fans. A shout out to you guys. We love you guys. For those of you who aren’t Lions fans, I’ve heard there’s two (Dallas) Cowboy fans, Noel and Amelio, I don’t know what you guys are doing but that’s crazy that you guys are Cowboys’ fans.”
He gave shout outs to starters Ben, Christian, Noel and Xander. “You guys lead the team. You are the heart and soul. When you play well, the whole team plays well. You guys keep in your game.” He also gave credit to sophomore starting center, Alex, “Keep being a beast out there,” said St. Brown. Shout outs by St. Brown were also given to Noah, David, Dillon, David, Colton and Jose.
The Tigers’ quest for a repeat of last season fell short as they were defeated Feb. 28 by Kalamazoo Phoenix, 61-48, in district hoops action at Gobles.
St. Brown played college football at USC and was drafted by the Lions in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. St. Brown was voted to the Pro Bowl in 2022 and 2023, along with being named First Team All-Pro in 2023.