HINES FURNITURE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Laurence Manning's Acord provides a jolt of offense en route to Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week

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Laurence Manning's Bryce Acord is a busy guy.

He plays three sports for the Swampcats, which can sometimes make the transition from one sport to the next a little difficult. Not so much this year. Acord led LMA in scoring in each of their three games last week and earned Hines Furniture Athlete of the Week honors along the way.

"It's great. I know those people who voted for me love me and just want me to do my greatest," Acord said.

The Swampcat senior said he normally gets off to a slow start in basketball season, as there isn't much time to rest between wrapping up football season and hitting the court. That changed this year.

"Usually when come off of football and go straight into basketball, it doesn't go well for me the first couple of games," Acord said. "Doing that in my firs three games has me feeling great about what's going to happen this season."

Laurence Manning head coach Will Epps loves the fact that Acord is a three-sport athlete for the Swampcats.

"You don't see true three-sport athletes like you did years ago and that's what makes Bryce unique," Epps said. "He's a heck of a football player, a good basketball player, he's a good baseball player and he's constantly on a team. He's a competitor. He loves to play. He gets excited to compete."

Acord and the Swampcats played in the Lake Murray Tip-Off to open the season. As a private school playing in a public school tournament, Acord knew that teams would probably underestimate them, but LMA was confident.

"Coming into a public school tournament, a lot of people are going to see us coming from a 3A private school and say we probably suck," Acord said. "We knew we'd be able to compete and do what we usually do, win."

Laurence Manning went 2-1 behind three great games from Acord. He opened with 16 points against Fox Creek, a 58-50 loss for LMA. They bounced back to route Barnwell 72-42 and Acord led the way with 14 more points. His best performance came against White Knoll, where Acord scored 21 points in a 60-55 win. He was thrilled to have a strong start offensively but was quick to give his teammates credit.

"It feels great," Acord said. I'm glad I was able to do that, but I've got to give a shoutout to my teammates too for getting me the ball and trusting me to score."

Epps really liked what he saw from Acord to open the season.

"He was just playing hard and wasn't just settling for being an outside shooter. He took the ball to the basket, moved the ball in transition. He's just becoming more of an overall offensive threat," Epps said. "Against White Knoll, he played well on both ends and just stepped up. He was more physical; he used his athleticism to score around the basket. Everybody knows him as our shooter, but he's become more of a well rounded scorer."

The senior said he just felt like he had the hot hand and when he gets rolling, he doesn't want to stop.

"Any time I get hot, I try to keep it going," Acord said. "I let my teammates know I'm hot, so give me the ball and I'll score."