A FIRST FOR LAUSANNE
Payne leads Lausanne to victory over ECS
Lynx capture their first state title in win over ECS in all-Memphis Division 2-A game.
NASHVILLE — Cameron Payne turned the court at Allen Arena into his own personal playground Saturday.
The Murray State-bound senior scored 22 points and fueled a decisive second-half run to lead Lausanne to its first boys basketball state championship as the Lynx defeated Evangelical Christian School, 67-43, in an all-Memphis Division 2-A final.
“This is just once in a lifetime,” said Payne, who added six rebounds, five
assists, three blocks and used his long arms to constantly disrupt ECS’ passing lanes.
Payne could have used some of those teammates to help him with all the hardware he picked up after the game. He was named Mr. Basketball after the game, beating out ECS sophomore big man Skal Labissiere and Burton Sampson of Knoxville Webb.
He also picked up the tournament’s most valuable player award.
“He’s been a phenomenal player to coach for the last four years,” said Lynx coach Kenneth White. “He’s a great kid, very humble. We’re going to miss him next year. I might have to get him back to some coaching.” He did everything else. Lausanne (24-4) led 3630 at halftime, but Payne sparked an 11-0 run in the third quarter that broke the game open. He scored seven of the points and had an assist and a blocked shot for good measure.
“He’s a good player,” said guard Isaac James, who led the Eagles with nine points. “He’s very shifty with his dribble. I tried my hardest to keep up with him.”
“Coach just told us not to leave anything on the court,” said Lynx senior Sedale Scullark. “We’ve been here four years; we wanted to set a good example for the younger players and just trust in the system.”
Lausanne led by 13 (4936) after three quarters and the Lynx continued to tighten the screws defensively in the fourth. They effectively took ECS big men Labissiere (eight points on 3-of-8 shooting) and Kip Owens out of the game.
“They just beat us to death,” said Eagles guard Brent Rooker. “They made us play even faster than we were comfortable playing.”
Said White, “Skal and Kip are great post players but I thought we did a good job limiting Skal’s touches.”
Denio Chirindja had 14 points for the Lynx, including a one-handed slam in transition in the closing moments that put an exclamation point on Lausanne’s victory.
Chirindja, Payne, Scullark (11 points) and Quentin Sawyer formed the senior backbone of this year’s Lausanne team. White said he knew early on it could be a special group.
“I saw flashes this summer,” he said. “We had some good results in the MUS summer tournament. With the four seniors we’ve talked about, I knew we’d have a team that would be able to compete.”
Said Payne, “Me and the others except for Denio have been playing together since the ninth grade. I’m just so happy right now, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.”
ECS, which was trying to win its second title in three years, ends the year with a 19-11 mark.