Boys’ basketball notebook: Lisbon yet another good small school Linn County team

LISBON — The winning is great. It really is.

But doing it while having your sons around you … it doesn’t get better than that.

“This has definitely been good,” Lisbon boys’ basketball coach Brandon Horman said. “It’s been a family thing as well. That’s always been a big thing. The boys, they love it. It’s just been rewarding, including with great kids to coach. That makes the job easy.”

Horman stepped down as head coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson a couple of years ago, citing the desire to spend more time with his family. He and his wife, Jessie, built a home in Lisbon, which is where they wanted to raise their three young sons.

A short time later, a middle-school teaching position opened up in the district, as did the high school varsity basketball job. Horman got both, and the dream was complete.

Beckam Horman, the oldest, sits behind the Lisbon bench at every game. He and brothers Paxton and Krew run around the gym postgame with no care in the world.

It’s a beautiful thing, as has been the season. Lisbon went into its Thursday night home showdown against Class 1A third-ranked North Linn with a 15-3 record. The Lions had a 12-game win streak snapped last week in overtime by a good 2A team from Wilton.

They are unbeaten in the Tri-Rivers Conference East Division, with a huge game Friday night against Easton Valley that will determine if the teams share the division title or if Lisbon wins it outright.

Rural Linn County has a plethora of very good 1A ballclubs this winter. North Linn is 18-1, Springville is 14-4 and Alburnett is 13-5.

“They’re a team,” Horman said of his group. “They’re playing for each other more so than anything else. They’re not just a one-dimensional group. We have seven guys who are averaging over five points a game, we’ve got two or three guys who score in double digits. We just don’t know where it’s going to come from on any given night.”

There are six seniors on this team and four of them start, including leading scorers Kole Becker (13.9 points per game) and Tyson Scott (13.1). The 6-foot-5 Becker has signed with Iowa State for track and field.

Kaeden Harrer and Gavin Wollum are the other senior starters. Carter Hall and Tyler Scott provide lifts off the bench, each averaging around six points a game.

Sophomore Michael Gadberry continues to improve at the point guard position, averaging 8.8 points and 3.9 assists. Lisbon has been placed in a tough 1A district that includes Easton Valley and Springville (which has beaten the Lions), among others.

But the North Linn and Easton Valley games are the most important thing at the moment, especially that Easton Valley tilt. Lisbon won the first encounter, 53-50.

“Just the growth, it’s encouraging going into the postseason,” Horman said. “It’d be big for our kids. It’s something we’ve talked about. At the beginning of the season, we did some goal setting and stuff, and that was one of the things that was consistent with everybody. Be Tri-Rivers champs.

“It’s been done before here, it hasn’t been done often. But a lot of these seniors were forced into varsity roles as freshmen, and they’ve been through a lot of tough nights, tough moments. So it’s been very rewarding to see some things go their way.”

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