While most people were making Super Bowl preparations Sunday afternoon, William Long was making jump shots. As a result, it’s not hard to figure why Lookout Valley coach Joe Galloway has confidence in his junior point guard during a game.
And while Long might not have had the flashy week with a lot of excellent, high-scoring games, sometimes a steady pace will win a race, and that was Long this week.
The junior averaged 20.3 points, four assists and 3.3 steals in victories over Marion County, South Pittsburg and Van Buren — the latter putting the Yellow Jackets in sole possession of first place in District 6-A. Long’s performance earned him Times Free Press Player of the Week honors.
“William is just so consistent,” Galloway said. “We had a terrible start to Friday’s game [against Van Buren]. They seemed more focused, and we didn’t take the lead until the second quarter. They came back on us and took the lead for a minute, but William drove down floor and made a layup to put us back ahead.”
Long capped off his 22-point performance against Van Buren by hitting 8-for-10 from the foul line down the stretch with the game still in doubt.