Farragut vs. North Lawndale was once one of the city’s hottest and most important rivalries. The programs were powerhouses for decades under prominent head coaches William “Wolf” Nelson at Farragut and Lewis Thorpe at North Lawndale.
Nelson and Thorpe were pillars of their schools and communities, and basketball success was a natural extension of their influence.
Both programs are now in a transition stage. Nelson retired from coaching a few years ago and is Farragut’s athletic director. The school named its gym after him last year. Former Admirals star Emmanuel Little took over as coach.
Thorpe died unexpectedly in 2018. A few different coaches have come and gone at North Lawndale since then and his son Stephen, a North Lawndale grad and former player, took over the program this season.
The teams are thin on players and wins. Both are under .500. The Admirals dressed nine players for the game on Tuesday and the Phoenix had eight. But there is still basketball talent.
North Lawndale picked up a 75-67 win at Farragut on Tuesday behind big games from senior Arnez Jones and junior Thomas Hayes.
Jones, a 6-5 wing, is one of the most promising unknown seniors in the area. He displayed a real flair for passing and finished with 21 points and 18 rebounds.
“I’m just playing hard on defense and moving the ball and trusting my teammates,” Jones said. “It’s a new coach and a new environment, but it has been good. I’m in the gym every day working. This is our turning point. We started slow, but we can finish the season strong.”
Hayes, a 6-1 guard, scored 29 points. He scored seven points in a 10-0 burst to open the second half. That gave North Lawndale (7-8, 3-4 Red West) a 47-34 lead but Farragut roared back and led 66-63 after Kelley’s three-point play with 5:17 left to play.
“We just had to stay mentally in the game and not let the crowd or anything else distract us,” Hayes said.
The Phoenix responded with an 8-0 run to take control again.
“We’ve been working on the unselfishness,” Stephen Thorpe said. “[Jones and Hayes] are great scorers, so they bring the attention. We are working on making the next pass and believing in each other. We did that very well today.”
North Lawndale had some difficulty scheduling games this season due to sharing a gym with Collins. But the schedule picks up now.
“This is a big moment for us,” Thorpe said. “We have two more games this week. I knew there would be a time where we turned the corner and it is better to have that close to the city playoffs so we are in a good place now.
Senior guard Latrell Kelley led Farragut (6-12, 2-4) with 32 points and seven rebounds. Kelley’s a four-year varsity starter and his game has matured. He’s making good decisions with the ball and controlling the tempo.
Kelley received some attention from colleges and the media as a young player, but that drifted away as Farragut struggled.
“Right now I’m a little bit frustrated just because we’ve had tough losses,” Kelley said. “We lost to Marshall and Manley in tough ones. And another one tonight. But we are getting better. We need to work on the little things like boxing out and knowing when to foul and when not to foul. And the two technicals at the end really hurt us.”
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