Jan 6, 2020 3 min read

Four years ago, Lucas Garber walked onto the floor for the first time as a freshman for the Waynesburg High School boys basketball varsity program.

He didn’t need to play in a game to make an impression.

Before ever putting on a jersey for a meaningful game, Garber was voted a captain by teammates.

“It surprised me,” said Waynesburg coach Kirk King. “I knew that his skill level was very high and he’d always been a really good player, but for being a freshman and to make that kind of impression on upperclassmen that fast. To think, juniors and seniors were voting for him, as a freshman, to be their captain.”

Since becoming the boys basketball head coach for the Raiders five years ago, King has always allowed players to vote on captains prior to the start of seasons.

Not much has changed over the last four years for Garber. Words from the soft-spoken senior are mostly few and far between. His lead-by-example style and captain status have remained intact.

“Being a four-year captain is rare in any varsity sport,” King said. “He is a quiet leader, leading by example. He practices and plays extremely hard, giving you 100% the entire time. It shows you the respect his teammates have for him.”

Now, Garber is hoping that hard work will help lead Waynesburg to the postseason, where it hasn’t been since 2016.

In 2017, Waynesburg lost 14 of its final 15 games. Two years ago, the Raiders dropped their final nine games. Last year, they lost their last three section games that left them on the outside of the playoffs.

A slashing guard, Garber eclipsed 1,000 points for his career in the third game of his this season. He averages just more than 20 points per game and will be a big reason that Waynesburg (0-2, 5-5) will be in the hunt for a playoff berth despite a difficult Class 4A Section 3 schedule with Uniontown, Ringgold and Belle Vernon.

“(Scoring 1,000 points) humbled me and showed how all the hard work has paid off,” Garber said. “But really it’s about wanting to finish above .500 and make the playoffs. Our seven seniors have been together since fifth grade. We have yet to make the playoffs.”

It won’t be extra weight on Garber’s shoulders, who has needed to become the predominant scorer the past two seasons after the graduation of Darton McIntire. McIntire is the all-time leading scorer in program history with 1,541 points.

“I don’t think it was necessarily pressure, I just think it was more of a responsibility to take over the reins to be the primary focus from a scoring standpoint,” King said.

Garber has done exactly that, forcing some opponents into tailoring their game plans to stop him. He averaged 23.5 points last year behind five performances of 30 or more points.

“I knew what I could do,” Garber said. “That’s gotten me a lot of attention from opponents. Multiple teams have ran a box-and-one defense against us. I’m sure when other teams watch film, it’s like, ‘Don’t leave him alone.’ I try to just be hard working on offense and defense, mellow and let the game come to me. But we all have the same mindset of just trying to win basketball games.”