‘He’s a game-changer.’ Senior’s return from ailment boosts Lafayette’s chances
With the game on the line, nursing a three-point lead at home late against the defending 12th Region champions, Lafayette had the ball in the hands of a trusted senior guard, Daniel Kinley.
He made a driving layup and four free throws down the stretch to help the Generals pull away to a 65-52 win over West Jessamine on Saturday night.
This time a year ago, it wasn’t certain Kinley would ever play again.
“After my sophomore year, (doctors) said I had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They weren’t really sure how it would affect me, so just to be safe, they had me sit out that year,” Kinley said.
The disease is a thickening of the heart muscle and has been known to end athletic careers.
“It was heartbreaking to hear that about one of your players, especially a kid like that,” said Lafayette Coach Michael Mendenhall III. “He gives everything he’s got. He’s a great kid. He’s always supportive. He was a starter for us as a sophomore. I know he had big plans for a junior year where he was really going to be relied on. But he handled it great.”
Kinley made the most of his time off — never missing a practice, never missing a game — and learning the team’s plays “like the back of my hand,” as a student assistant coach, he said. And he, of course, got a lot of support from family, friends and coaches.
“I’ve had everybody help me and keep my head above water so I could come back and play this year,” Kinley said. “Everybody stepped up.”
Now, Kinley is stepping up as the first substitution off the bench this season.
“When I got the news that he was able to come back, I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was, not only for him, but his family and everybody that’s helped him along the way,” Mendenhall said.
Will Stanfield, Lafayette’s leading scorer Saturday with 23 points, said having Kinley back is “huge.”
“It’s a big deal to have him on the floor,” Stanfield said. “He’s a game-changer. He brings the game up to the next level, he really does.”
Lafayette (2-1), so far, has brought its play up considerably from last season’s 10-21 campaign when it lost four straight to start.
“Last year, we had a lot of inexperience and it took us a while to get comfortable in our roles and what we were trying to do,” Mendenhall said. “We have a lot of those kids back — seven seniors in the rotation. And we rely on them a lot.”
The Generals established a 30-21 lead over the Colts at halftime thanks to an 11-0 run in the second period that came from four different scorers.
“We played hard, played as a team and got everybody involved,” Kinley said. “After we got the effort up, it all came together.”
The Lafayette lead built to 15 early in the third period, but the Colts rallied.
“We knew they weren’t going to go away,” Mendenhall said. “They are too well coached. They have too much pride. They’re too good of a team to just fold.”
Led by Herald-Leader preseason No. 20 player DeAjuan Stepp, West Jessamine erased the deficit in just a few minutes and took the lead early in the fourth quarter when Stepp followed a Brett Bush three-pointer with his own fast-break layup to put the Colts ahead 44-43 with 6:26 to play. Stepp led the Colts with 20 points.
“We got on the boards and started playing more D, and that’s what won us the game,” Stanfield said of the Generals’ response. “We’ve just got to be that team that can handle adversity and play through that and we’ll win a lot of games.”
The lead changed hands three more times before three-pointers from Campbell DeYoung and Stanfield pushed the cushion back out to six points, 55-49, with 2:25 left. Kinley had a blocked shot in the sequence. After Kinley’s driving layup made it 57-52 with 1:19 left, West Jessamine resorted to sending the Generals to the free throw line the rest of the way.
Kinley finished with 10 points and tied for the team lead with six rebounds. Kobe Blake chipped in 11 points and had five assists for the Generals. DeYoung scored eight, including a first-half dunk.
“I told the guys, this is an opportunity to prove ourselves against a team with Sweet 16 aspirations,” Mendenhall said. “That’s why I scheduled them early. I wanted our kids to know the level of play they had to be at in order to compete with the best.”
They’ll need that experience in the 43rd District and 11th Region, where rival Lexington Catholic is the preseason favorite to earn its bid to the Sweet 16.
“No one has us ranked anywhere in the top of the region. Everyone has us last in our district and our guys are just coming out and proving that we belong in the conversation with some of the best teams in our region,” Mendenhall said. “You just hope you keep getting better, and you hope when you play these district games, you’re playing your best basketball. That’s what it takes to win.”
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