'A special, special player': Victory Christian junior guard 'LJ' Cason erupts for 57 points

Editor's Note: This story has been udated.

LAKELAND — It started out as just an average game — or a tad above average — for Victory Christian junior guard Lorenzo "LJ" Cason when the Storm played Auburndale last Thursday. He scored 15 points in the first half, which is a 30-point pace, but when you're averaging more than 27.0 points per game, 30 points is just a tad above average.

Then in the second half, he just felt it — that unexplainable feeling that he couldn't be stopped and ended up with what might have been the third-best individual scoring game in Polk County basketball history.

Cason torched Auburndale for 42 points in the second half to finish with 57 points. Former NBA All-Star and former Winter Haven star Otis Birdsong scored 59 points against Haines City during the Blue Devils' state championship season in '72-'73. And according to former Bartow coach James Austin, Winter Haven's CY Young scored 61 points vs. Pathway Christian during the 1986-87 season.

In addition to the points, Cason had an all-around game against Auburndale as he finished with 11 rebounds and seven assists. And Victory needed every last point in its 93-87 victory.

"I just started feeling it," Cason said. "I started going with the flow. I let the game come to me."

The 6-foot-3 Cason made all kinds of shots. He drove to the basket, hit seven 3-pointers and shot 14 of 15 from the free-throw line.

"He just has an uncanny knack of just knowing the flow of the game and what the team needs," Victory coach Steve Fitzgerald said. "So in the second half, he just put us on his back and it started snowballing. He gets in that zone and the basket is huge. And he's not getting easy shots. Their whole strategy is to keep him from getting the ball. Everything he's getting, he's having to work. It's very difficult to stop because he can score at all the levels."

Auburndale coach said Cason was in 'an absolute zone'

Auburndale coach Eric Robinson didn't like to give up 93 points but was duly impressed with Cason.

"Just being around the game for as long as I have, I don't think I've seen an individual performance like that in over 35 years with my own eyes," Robinson said. "I didn't see C.Y. Young and Terrence Barber play. But you as a coach, you're still trying to win, but after the game's over you get a chance to watch game film and some of the amazing shots that the kid made with two guys on him, one time three guys on him. He's just to a point where he was in an absolute zone."

Other 50-point scorers are Winter Haven’s Dave Brownyard’s 56 points in 1971, Pathway Christian’s Jay Hagan with 55 points in 1988, Lakeland’s Tim Jones with 54 points in the ‘70s, Frostproof’s Rudy Maloy with 52 points in 1973, Lakeland’s Alonza Allen with 52 points in 1980, Bartow’s Mack Mullis with 51 points in 1958, Fort Meade’s Albert McClellan with 51 points in 1966, Lake Wales’ Bruce Weeks with 51 points in ’67, and Mulberry’s Arthur Jones with 51 points in 1969.

It was just another big night for Cason, who is averaging 27.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists this season.

"The season has been great," Cason said. "My coach, he has put me in great situations to be able to help us win."

It's not odd that Cason had more points later in the game. As the primary ballhandler, Cason tries to get his teammates in the game early, rather than look for his shot. Then again, there are times, he said, when he tries to score early to help free up his teammates as opponents begin focusing on him.

"I trust my teammates, and they trust me," Cason said.

Cason began his high school career at George Jenkins as a freshman before transferring to Victory Christian as a sophomore. He averaged 27.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.5 steals per game last season.

Cason working harder to improve his game

Although his numbers are roughly the same, it has come against tougher competition this season, and Cason has made great strides in developing as a player.

"As a freshman, I would say I didn't work as hard as I do now," he said. "I probably didn't love the game as much as I do now. I have put in a lot of hard work since then."

And it has had a snowball effect. As he worked more, he has gotten better, which has increased his love for the game, spurring him to work even harder. With the work, his entire game has improved, along with leadership and communicating with this teammates, ballhandling, driving to the basket and passing.

"And I couldn't shoot as a freshman," Cason said. "I think that's the part of my game that has changed a lot.''

Fitzgerald has seen Cason develop since he began playing with Victory during the summer before his sophomore year.

When he saw Cason that summer, he knew he had a solid player who could score 18 to 20 points a game. When the season began, he began seeing how special Cason could be.

"He really turns himself up for real competition," Fitzgerald said.

Since then, he has seen Fitzgerald get even better as his shooting has improved and he's gotten physically stronger. This year, he's better at getting a quality shot off it traffic when he's being bumped around.

"He's really matured," Fitzgerald said. "He's a much better leader now. He's very coachable. He does not stand on what he's done. He wants to succeed at the highest level."

Cason downplayed the fact that his 57 points came against Auburndale, a big school that is one of the top teams in the county. Victory is a 2A school but has played a strong schedule against bigger schools.

Fitzgerald said it's not surprising that Cason had the big day against a big school. Cason, he said, isn't going to pad his stats against weaker teams.

And the best is probably yet to come. He's a young junior at 16 and he still has one more year of high school before heading off to play college basketball.

Cason's first letter came from Stetson, and he's had offers from mid-majors, but Fitzgerald said he believes it's just a matter of time before major colleges — Virginia Commonwealth and Chattanooga — start offering him. He's said he now is starting to get calls from schools such as Georgia and Florida.

"He's just a special, special kid," Fitzgerald said. "Sometimes you don't realize it until after a kids is gone that, wow, that kid was really good. This kid, you routinely know it when he's playing. I'm standing on the sideline shaking my head at what he is doing. It's not normal."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Victory Christian's 'LJ' Cason scores 57 points in win over Auburndale