Lehigh boys hoops legend leading program to success

The gym at Lehigh Senior High School is like home for BJ Edwards.

Edwards said, “Lehigh was a part of me. It’s helped mold me into the man that I am. It’s my alma matter. I’ve spent time here since I was in the third grade.”

Just like a home, accomplishments are proudly displayed. The banner commemorating 2014 Elite Eight boys basketball team hangs in the gym. That team was led by Edwards, who was named the 6A Player of the Year that year.

Now, the program’s all-time leading scorer is in his third season as head coach leading the Lightning.

“I find it so much more fulfilling to serve these young men,” Edwards said.

Under Edwards, the program’s win total has gone up. 16 wins in Edwards’ first season, 18 in his second and now, in year three, 21 wins, marking the first 20 win season in five years.

Edwards told WINK News he sees similarities with this year’s team and that 2014 squad.

“It’s a group of selfless individuals,” Edwards explained. “A group of kids coming together doing something unique that no one else in the community is doing.”

“I feel like the standard is a lot higher with this group even though we’re young like a lot of young kids are expected to do more for us than the last years,” Lehigh guard Kionus Walters said.

This team’s motto is displayed on the back of their practice jerseys: Just Us.

“One team, one family, brotherhood,” Lehigh guard Joshua Bauer said.

“If we just focus on the process, these kind of things will just come,” Edwards said. “You just focus on doing things the right way you’ll win, people will come. Just focus on us.”