Three Flower Mound Marcus Sophomores become team leaders

By most standards, the boy’s basketball team at Flower Mound Marcus is considered a young team.

"We start three sophomores a majority of the time," says head coach Danny Henderson.

Henderson is used to winning. After all he became just the 19th high school coaching Texas to win 600 games.

He took four teams to the state tournament and won two state championships at Peaster High School near Weatherford but not with three sophomores. His team this year has already won 33 games while losing only two.

"I can't say that these three sophomores have played like sophomores," Henderson says. "They played like veterans from the beginning of the season."

"We get a lot of respect from the seniors which you don't see often for the younger kids," says sophomore forward Marcus Smart. "But at the same time, we give that respect back to them."

Senior Tom Netsch, a forward likes the combination. "We have a ton of players that could be playing division one. I'm just happy to go on the ride with them," he says.

It's not often that you find a high school team where the leaders of the team are all sophomores, but that’s the case at Flower Mound Marcus and the players have names that you won't soon forget.

"They're blessed with sports center names, I guess as a group, Smart Lucky and Forte," says Henderson.

Marcus Smart is the unequaled leader at Forward. Henderson says he can play ever position on the floor. His no look passes are a site to behold and speaks volumes for his future in the sports. Phil Forte is a shooting guard who has hit 96-three pointers and A.J. Luckey is more than just a lucky guard.

"Forte is lucky to be smart," says guard A.J. Luckey as he strings the names together. "So that's what we go by sometimes."

Forte lines the names up this way. "Forte is being smart and lucky!"

"I don't know what that's about," says senior post Cory Needs with a big smile. "Obviously it's got some meaning because we're doing pretty well."

So of the three sophomores, who's considered the best looking?

"I'm going to have to go with that one," says Luckey raising his hands. Of course Smart and Forte disagree with that statement, but maybe Luckey is just a lucky guy.

With Luckey, Forte and Smart, Flower Mound Marcus has a great chance to reach the state tournament in Austin. Their next big test comes Friday night at Birdville Coliseum against Duncanville.