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FISHERS — Austin Lyons and Preston Scott have already garnered the affection of the town of Lapel as the two remaining cogs from the Bulldogs’ 2016 state championship team.

Now, the two seniors are trying to turn the eyes of college recruiters as they look to continue their basketball careers at the college level.

They took their talents to Fishers High School Saturday, July 8, for a senior showcase with dozens of college scouts and coaches on hand.

Both players said their goal for the day was to impress the scouts to improve their chances of receiving better offers for next season. Lyons said survival was the first priority.

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“Trying not to die running up and down the court is the big one, because it’s just a track meet, really,” Lyons said. “I’m just looking to make my teammates better, rebound the ball and hit some open shots that I need to make.”

“I try to make myself stand out,” Scott added. “I try to do some of the things some of the other guys aren’t thinking about doing, because they’re all trying to score.”

Showcases like this display a much different brand of basketball from what fans of the high school game are accustomed to seeing. The speed of the games is fast, with players looking to shoot the ball as quickly as they can, trying to catch the attention of a scout. For Lyons and Scott, it is a far cry from the team-oriented, share-the-ball style of offense preached by Lapel head coach Jimmie Howell.

“It can be kind of tough because usually, we look to pass the ball,” Scott said. “We’re trying to make ourselves stand out, but that’s tough while trying to make our teammates better at the same time.”

“We share the ball at our school, which is what I’m trying to do here,” Lyons said. “But it’s tough when kids come down and it’s one shot and done and there’s no defense, which is also big at our school.”

Neither player has received a firm collegiate offer yet, although both have attracted interest. They said they believe the recruiting process will heat up even more as the summer AAU season draws to a close.

“There’s a couple D-3 schools that came to watch me play today,” Lyons said. “Marian has gotten in contact with my grandparents, and I’m going to a camp at Goshen. There are a couple others, too.”

Scott has been in touch with both basketball and football scouts.

“There’s a few that have texted (my mother), and there’s five or six for football, too,” he said.

Both players will step away from basketball as the fall sports season gets going with practices later this month. Lyons (tennis) and Scott (football) will compete for teams with high hopes of success this fall but maintain that basketball is their No. 1 priority.

“I’m doing basketball workouts in the morning at 7, and then straight from there to football,” Scott said. “For basketball, it’s five days a week for an hour and a half, and for football, it’s four days a week for two hours.”

“I start thinking about tennis when it’s time to play my first match, really,” Lyons said. “Basketball is my main sport; other sports are for fun.”

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