Mustangs senior ‘anchor to everything we do,’ coach says
Andrew Lastinger has been a stalwart on the Grapevine boys basketball team over the last few years, and 2016-2017 could be his best season yet.
The Mustangs senior post was a first-team all-district selection last season, and coach Jeremy Mills said that Lastinger can pretty much do it all.
“Andrew is our leader on and off the floor,” Mills said. “He is the anchor to everything we do. He dominates the paint defensively and offensively. He leads us in rebounding, blocked shots, and can score for himself and has the ability to get teammates open shots when teams collapse on him. He’s a very unselfish team player who cares about our team winning.”
Mills said he has a number of expectations for Lastinger this season, all of which he believes are achievable.
“We need him to help lead us to a district championship and for him to be the best big man each and every game,” Mills said. “He has set a goal of averaging a double-double scoring and rebounding. He has a chance to score 1,000 career points and to grab 1,000 rebounds this year, which would be huge milestones for him.”
Lastinger said that he is looking forward to a great season and said that he has been impressed with how things are shaping up so far.
“It is early, but I am happy with how we are playing,” Lastinger said. “We are loaded with seniors, many that I have played with since middle school.”
The 6-7 post said he understands his role on the team very well and works hard to contribute what is expected of him.
“I try to consistently score and rebound in double figures,” Lastinger said. “If I am a threat in the paint, it opens up a lot of opportunities for my teammates to score from the perimeter.”
Lastinger is also a member of the National Honor Society, the Honor Guard, DECA, Stampede, the National Spanish Honor Society and the Math Honor Society at Grapevine, and said he has some definite objectives for the season, both personally and as a team.
“I am playing with guys I’ve known and played with since middle school, and we all want to win a state championship more than anything,” Lastinger said. “Personally, I would like to become Grapevine’s all-time leading shot blocker.”
For Grapevine to have a successful season, Lastinger said it will take a few things.
“I think we have really good team chemistry and experience,” Lastinger said. “We have four or five guys that can be the leading scorer on any given night. If we play within ourselves and with energy, I think we can go very far.”
This story was originally published November 30, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Mustangs senior ‘anchor to everything we do,’ coach says."