Thursday, October 1, 2026
After capturing the Prive Schools Athletic Association championship last season, Lawrence Woodmere Academy White squad head coach Hank Williams Sr. wanted to challenge his team even more by scheduling games against some of the top teams in the area. So far, the results have been mixed, but along the way the program has discovered some exciting young talent and the continued growth of its returnees.
This season has been one of peaks and valleys for the Tigers, but they found themselves back on an upswing after a thrilling 65-64 win over Victory Academy on Jan. 23 for their second straight win following a three-game losing streak. They had won back-to-back games on two previous occasions but failed to extend it each time.
“I tried to schedule the toughest games possible for the entire season and this is kind of the result of it,” Williams Sr. said. “You could be victorious, or you could take a loss, but that’s the risk you take when you try to schedule the best teams that you could possibly play.”
The win pushed Lawrence Woodmere’s record to 6-7 with seven games remaining and, since it is now an independent team, will have its playoff fate determined by a selection committee.
Against Victory, Lawrence held a 31-19 lead at halftime, but with Tiger backups in the game, the opposition stormed back and went up by three with about 20 seconds left. Lawrence Woodmere cut the deficit to one before junior Sylvanus Tabe caused a jump ball tie up that gave possession to the Tigers, which would eventually result in the go-ahead 3-point play by 6-foot-6 eighth-grader Floybert Kuminga.
“They had a kid who hit a lot of big 3’s in the fourth quarter, I think he had 27 points, so those big 3’s really helped them to come back,” Williams Sr. recalled. “I got a chance to play everybody on our team, so that was my goal. It was the last home game, and I wanted to really get some good minutes in for all the players. So, everybody got to play, the entire bench, and it almost cost us the game.”
The win came two days after Lawrence Woodmere topped Portledge, the school that won the previous three PSAA crowns, 76-67 behind a season-best 20 points by junior Nick Anson and 14 by Kuminga.
Sophomore Hank Williams Jr. began the season with three games of at least 20 points and remains the leading scorer with a 15.9 scoring average, with Anson (10.5) not far behind. Kuminga (9.9 ppg) and junior Josh Smith (9.6) are close to double digits and the 6-foot-10 Tabe is at 8.8.
Malachi Miller has flashed some offensive potential with a 12-point game during the Tigers’ win against The Patrick School on Dec. 15 and fellow eighth grader Ethan Henry had the same amount against Rome Free Academy on Jan. 19. Freshmen Elliot Goldberg has also been in the roation and produced 10 points against Portledge.
Six-foot-8 sophomore Alex Kuminga can hit the 3-pointer and rebound and Williams Sr. lauded him for being a coachable player.
