HOLLAND, Mich. -- After transferring to a school in Florida, Demetrius Lake returned home for his senior season at the Dutch Dome. And he's definitely made an impact on West Michigan. He’s been averaging over thirty points a game, crediting his success to putting in the work in the off-season.
“I’ve seen different defenses for you know the past two or three years, so it’s nothing new to me," the senior said, "Me coming into the off-season and before every season I just have to go work on my game and what teams are gonna do to me, inside the conference, outside of the conference. So it’s staying healthy honestly, and getting ready for those types of defenses and scoring a lot. Because I know that’s what I have to do for this team.”
A four year varsity player for the Dutch, Demetrius knows his role on this team, taking the young guys under his wings.
“He’s obviously the four year starter so some of that’s natural, but also he’s the best player, " Coach Chapman reiterated. "He takes that role on. We’re a really young team. We started three sophomores and he’s takes that role seriously also that’s huge for our team.”
Demetrius said, "I mean I have to lead. That’s one of my character traits. Leading is a positive for me and I show those guys how to lead and they take it and they learn from it and they take it with them to the next year’s team and follow it on from there.”
And he's been a good player to learn from. Demetrius has made his mark on the program since his first varsity game.
“Freshman year at the Civic Center, the game was on the line against Holland Christian, our arch rival, so Dante Hawkins passed me the ball and I knew I had to take the shot because time was running down," he remembered. "And so as I took it, and it went in, my career started from there. And I’m glad that, that happened. That’s the way I started my career and to finish it with 2,000 something points it’s really a big up for me.”
Demetrius is only the 39th player in Michigan history to score over 2,000 career points and Coach Chapman saying, his scoring really comes in clutch, especially as they continue this season.
“We’re probably gonna be the underdogs in whoever we play, but we do have the ultimate weapon. If it’s close, he’s gonna win it at the end. Because that’s just what he does," Chapman said confidently.
Holland will play on Wednesday for a chance to continue their season. And according to Demetrius, winning a district title would be the perfect ending to his high school career.
