NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — Lake Taylor boys basketball has gotten used to winning this season. At 21-1, the only setback for the Titans this season coming in double overtime against Maury.
Yet what sticks in the team's mind is the way last year ended.
"We can lose. It has happened before," head coach Derek Edwards said. "We have to be locked in every day."
Lake Taylor's 2022-2023 came to an end with a Region 3A title game loss to Hopewell, then falling in their first state playoff game against Skyline.
"It drives us a lot," said senior guard Shahide Battle. "I didn't play well last year, I got sat down. We don't forget that."
"We thought we were going to win it. We were worrying about states too much rather than taking it one game at a time," said junior guard Aaron Elliott.
Elliott's education on state tournament pressure started before he ever put on a Lake Taylor uniform. His older brother, Amahd, was a senior for the Titan team that made the Class 4A state championship game in 2016.
Leading Monacan by double digits in the third quarter and by eight with four minutes left to play, Lake Taylor surrendered a 12-0 run to watch the Chiefs steal the title in a 57-53 heartbreaker.
"It was like we were waiting for the time to run out rather than making the play to win," said Edwards, who was an assistant for the Titans that season.
"He said it hurt bad. He wishes he could come back and play it over and over again," Aaron remembered. "I wasn't even playing and it hurt me."
"Seeing those cry, I couldn't wait until it was my turn."
As Aaron has risen up the ranks at the high school, his older brother hasn't stopped giving him advice on how to handle everything that comes with playing for a winner.
"He said don't take it for granted," Elliott said. "Just play, don't be thinking too much."
After a 75-48 win over Heritage in the Region 3A quarterfinals, Lake Taylor now sets it sights on punching another ticket to the state tournament with a matchup against Lakeland.
Amahd's lessons for Aaron are already kicking into gear.
"Thinking about last year, it's all we do," Elliott said. "We tell each other one game at a time, don't get big-headed."
Beyond getting redemption for last season, the junior point guard knows he can help finish the story for himself and his brother.
"It would mean a lot," Aaron said. "We just got to blow everyone out and we can get one, one for my brother."
