Corpus Christi Caller Times Caller.com - Port Aransas marksman Lawton named boys MVP

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Sunday, April 2, 2000

Port Aransas marksman Lawton named boys MVP

By George Vondracek
Caller-Times

David Adame/Caller-Times

Port Aransas' Fisher Lawton poured in 23 points per game this season, leading the Marlins into the Region IV-2A playoffs.

"You aim high, you get high."
   Those are words to live by if you are Fisher Lawton, the latest sharpshooter to come out of the Port Aransas High School boys basketball program.
   He was in the upper stratosphere his senior season, setting the school's single-season and career marks for 3-point goals.
   "My friends will mention it to me, especially my teammates. It kind of surprised me a little that I made that many," said the 6-foot-1 Lawton, the Caller-Times All-South Texas boys Most Valuable Player.
   "That's basically all I shoot," he said. "When I'm in the gym by myself, that's what I shoot, so that's what I concentrate on in games. Plus, my coach tells me to shoot."
   With good reason. Lawton, a point guard, sank 129 threes, clipping six off the previous Port A mark. He averaged 23 points per game as the Marlins made their annual trek to the Region IV-2A tournament.
   Lawton is joined on the All-South Texas boys team by Mathis junior Dominick Flores, the Newcomer of the Year, and by Coach of the Year Floyd Campbell of West Oso. On the girls team, Carroll's Sabrina Mitchell is the Most Valuable Player, Miller's Margaret Wimbish is the Newcomer of the Year and Carroll's Leticia Canales is Coach of the Year.
   Behind the arc
   Lawton made 37.2 percent of his tries from behind the arc - with the blessings of coach Jim Reid.
   "Fisher's a real, real good kid," Reid said. "He's really conscious of his performance and real concerned about what his teammates think. He'll say, 'Am I shooting too much?' I say, 'No. I want you to shoot.' "
   Shoot is what Lawton does best, with a quick release. With no high school football in the small coastal town, many youths spend hours inside a gymnasium bouncing and shooting basketballs. They hope to become the next Joseph Gueldner, Bryan D'Herde, Avery Hernandez, Shade Vaughn or Peter Staackmann, the latter of whom was last year's All-South Texas boys MVP.
   Lawton was no different.
   "It's just that 3-point line. When I'm in the gym, that's about 80 percent of where I shoot from," Lawton said. "That's where I like to go. I like to stay in the gym. Even when there's no basketball season, I go in there and shoot."
   Not just a shooter
   One glance at the scoring numbers may give the impression Lawton does nothing but gun from the outside.
   Not so, says his coach.
   "He was very good in adjusting his game when the outside shot wasn't there," said Reid, in his second year as the Marlins' coach. "He averaged almost five assists and had a lot of steals, too. He did an excellent job on the press and did an excellent job of leading the team."
   Lawton dealt an average of 4.6 assists per game, averaged 6.7 steals per game and chipped in with 3.5 rebounds per game.
   "He's a pretty good all-around player," Woodsboro coach Don Schneider said.
   Lawton also made nearly 77 percent of his free throws and, with the help of All-South Texas first-teamer Matt Fiedler (23 points per game), Port Aransas raced to the 31-2A title and a 31-3 record.
   But the Marlins' season ended in the regional semifinals, where they lost to eventual state runner-up Van Vleck, 72-66.
   "It's very frustrating," Lawton said. "I thought this was going to be the year to get to state. But we ran into a bigger, stronger team. They were good."
   Hard to stop
   Lawton was held to 16 points in the loss to Van Vleck; Fiedler had 28. It was one of the few times Lawton was contained.
   "He has such range on his shooting, no one could really shut him down much," Reid said. "He's real sly about his shot. You get to a point where you don't think he'll shoot it, and then he's real sly about getting it off."
   Port A opponents stayed away from zone defenses, Reid said, wary of the Marlins' outside shooting prowess led by Lawton. Teams did try a box-and-one, where one player hounds Lawton wherever he roams and the other four play a zone.
   "I can speak for us. We didn't play too much zone (defense) against him," Schneider said. "We ran against him in a man-to-man, and they'd set picks for him. He'd step out and shoot.
   "If he was hot, he would burn you."
   Lawton is quick to compliment his teammates, especially the inside play of Fiedler, that has improved his offense.
   "It's a team game. We've heard that growing up," Lawton said. "The way we play, anybody can step up on any given night because our team has so much depth."
   So much so that Lawton said he isn't that concerned about scoring.
   "I'd rather get assists. On any night, I'd rather get 20 assists than 20 points," he said. "Twenty assists is kind of out of reach. But you aim high, you get high."
   Lawson knows that only too well.


Staff Writer George Vondracek can be reached at 886-3731 or by e-mail at vondracekg@caller.com

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