In an era where the nation’s top high school basketball talents are recruited to various big-time private and prep schools, Lexington’s Cam Scott stands as an outlier. 

Scott, the consensus No. 1 ranked player in South Carolina’s 2024 class and a top-40 ranked athlete in the country, is entering his fifth season as a member of his hometown school and will graduate as the most decorated player in program history.

Unlike many of the best high school prospects, Scott has not left for the glamor and flair of a top basketball prep school. For Scott, it is not about the easy path. He wants to elevate those around him and play for his community. 

“Just watching people in the NBA and seeing how guys like Damian Lillard stick with their team, guys like my favorite player, Dwayne Wade, stick with their team, Guys like Kobe stick with their team, Giannis sticks with their team,” Scott said. “I feel like for me, getting a championship here would be more special than going somewhere else, teaming up with other people and going somewhere who’s already won championships on championships.”

Scott’s loyalty to the Lexington team is one of the qualities boys basketball head coach Elliott Pope said he admires most in his star wing. 

“That’s something that a lot of situations that you could point to throughout the country where that’s not always the case,” Pope said. “He’s been loyal to us, loyal to his teammates and peers in the building and has continued to come back and be a really big part of this basketball team and this community.”

Staying at Lexington has allowed Scott to focus on things apart from basketball. He’s been able to build and maintain relationships with people he has known since he was a kid.

“Cam is a people person, so he has friends, he has relationships that he wants to see through,” Scott’s father Armet Coles said. “He wants to go to the prom. He wants to do all those things that a typical high school student does. So, I don’t think you get that same experience at a prep school. Just being there for a year or two, it’s not the same as graduating with kids you’ve been with since sixth grade.”

Scott and his family have been living in Lexington since he started middle school. Growing up he did not immediately gravitate towards basketball, he was instead a multisport athlete who played a little bit of everything. 

“When he was like four, I was like ‘You’re doing sports. You’re going to get into something. I need you to be active. I don’t want you to just be around the house all the time,’” Scott’s mother Alisha Coles said. “Every time there was a new sport that opened up from the age of four, it was like, okay, let’s try this. Let’s see how you like this.”

Outside of sports, Scott also developed a bit of an artistic side. He’s drawn cartoons, and sketches, and to his mother’s surprise, they were actually good 

“He’s an undercover artist. He likes to draw even when he was younger, he would draw,” Alisha said. “He would do his own cartoons, design his own sneakers, stuff like that, and it would just be better than what I expected at an elementary school kid’s age. Every once in a while, he’ll do some drawings here and there to just show off that he hasn’t forgotten it.”

Another hobby of his was collecting. But his prized collection was not trading cards or comic books, but Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal boxes. 

“It’s one of his favorite cereals, and he would collect the empty boxes, but it had to be the family-size box. It couldn’t be the mega. It couldn’t be the regular size,” Alisha said. “He recently got rid of all of them, but like he had about 30 plus in his closet. … He’s not one to follow behind every little thing. He has no problem being his own person, being his own goofy self.”

As he got older, he realized he needed to shift his focus to one sport and decided he wanted to continue with basketball. 

That decision seems to have paid off given the numerous awards and accolades he earned throughout his first four seasons at Lexington. 

He averaged 19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals per game last season. He was awarded the state’s most prestigious honor by being named the 2023 South Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year, following previous winners G.G. Jackson and Bryce McGowens, who are both currently in the NBA. 

Scott helped lead his team to an undefeated region record and title last season. But one thing has eluded him during his career, a state championship. 

“I honestly just want to help lead the team to a state championship,” Scott said. “Right now I’m 0-4 for state championships, and I really want this one this year.”

Lexington was one game away from qualifying for last season’s 5A state title game, but the team fell short and lost to eventual champions, Dorman. Scott thinks this season both he and the team have what it takes to go all the way and win Lexington’s first title in 24 years.

“This year I feel like we’re a lot older, a lot more experience and this group of guys, we really play well together,” Scott said. “I feel like for us, it’s just going to be continuing to play together, continue trusting one another, just making the right basketball plays, and I think that’ll lead to a lot of success.”

The journey was not always easy though. An eighth grader playing varsity basketball will go through growing pains as they develop. Aside from the obvious physical differences between a 13-year-old and an 18-year-old, Scott had to develop a mentality and understanding of the game that came with experience. 

“I was a young middle school kid coming up playing against high school seniors,” Scott said. “Being one of the younger, more talented kids on the team, you had to take in a lot of criticism. I mean, you’re getting criticized left and right, good or bad. They’re always going to find a flaw. Law, and for me, I feel like that was a real mental challenge.”

Lexington finished Scott’s eighth-grade season with a (14-13) record and was second to last in its region. Every year since then though, Scott and the team have improved. 

His freshman year the team finished (11-5) during the COVID-19 season. The next year the Wildcats went (15-13) but went (6-2) in the region, which earned them second place. Then last season the team made it to the state semifinals for the first time since 2019. 

Scott acknowledges if the team wants to get back to that moment and change the result, everyone will need to step up, including himself. He wants to take an increased leadership role and be a guy anyone on the team can talk to. 

Part of what makes him fit for this role is his approachability. In practice, Scott can be seen giving tips to not just the team’s main contributors but every player on the court. He is always around listening to coaching advice, even if it is not directed at him. He wants to find a way to make everyone better. 

“I’ve been the kid who is quiet. They don’t want to talk to anybody, the younger kid, the new kid,” Scott said. “I had people who would talk to me, bring me in with the team, bring me out there to do stuff even off the court. So, I mean, just having one of those people around you, it’s just really uplifting and can bring the whole team together, and I feel like that’s what we’re going to need for us to win a state championship.”

This is the final go-around for Scott and his fellow seniors, and before playoffs begin Scott should pick up at least one more individual accomplishment.

He set the boy’s career-scoring record last season by eclipsing Shaq Roland’s 1,772 points. This season he’s chasing Olivia Thompson’s record for boys and girls and is hoping to celebrate it with her when it happens. 

Scott will continue to play basketball at the next level, having committed to Texas in August. Those around Scott supported his decision and are excited to see what his future holds. 

“I just gave him the pros and cons of everything,” Armet said. “At the end of the day, you’re the one that’s going to have to deal with it in the huddle, not us. We’re going to be in the stands to root you on in whatever color shirt for the school you select.”

When the Wildcat jersey comes off and the Longhorn jersey comes on Scott hopes to still have the same support from his home community. When it’s all said and done he just wants to be remembered as a guy who gave them his all. 

“Just being an inspiration for people,” Scott said. “For them to come to the game, pay money to come to my game and watch me play, at least I can always say what’s up to them. … I just want to be remembered as a leader, a good student and a good kid.”

Lexington boys basketball begins quest for state success

The Lexington High School boys basketball team is gearing up for what could be a historic season for the program. 

The Wildcats enter the 2023-24 campaign as one of the favorites to win the 5A state title. Led by a top-ranked duo in the state, Lexington is looking to claim its first basketball championship since 2000. 

“We want to go out and win every game we compete in,” Lexington head coach Elliott Pope said. “Hopefully we get to that first weekend in March and we’re playing for a state championship.”

Lexington has improved significantly since Pope joined the program in June of 2019. The team won its first region title in four years and made it to the state semifinals last season. 

The team fell to eventual champion Dorman in the 2023 Upper State final, 60-52. Pope said even though the team was disappointed with the loss, it is not a motivating factor this season. The team is instead focused on larger ambitions.

“There’s so many other things as far as leaving a legacy, you know, to be a part of something, a banner that they don’t take down,” Pope said. “Obviously, the loss to Dorman was impactful – but I think going into this season you realize it happened, you can’t go back and change it, so it’s not necessarily something that is our driving factor. We got to be internally motivated.”

There is plenty of internal motivation around the team, especially from star senior duo Cam Scott and Jaxon Prunty. 

Scott is the reigning state Gatorade Player of the Year and has achieved a lot during his five-year Lexington career. He said raising a banner would be the perfect way to finish his Wildcat career.

Prunty is looking to make up for lost time last season after an injury caused him to miss the game against Dorman.

“I got hurt last year, so I couldn’t really do what I’ve been doing the other games,” Prunty said. “I’m feeling really good. I feel very confident this year. I feel like we could go all the way.”

This year’s Lexington team looks a bit different from last season’s group. The team graduated six seniors and Pope said finding new leadership has been a challenge. 

“The big thing that I kind of see now that we’re going to have to address is really the leadership that some of those other seniors provided,” Pope said. “On the bench, in practice, being able to run as a team scout and being able to execute what we’re asking them to do to help us prepare for the next game, That was something that goes unmentioned a lot of the times.”

The team plans to rely on returning veterans to fill those departed players. Guards Kaleb Evans, Coulter Bell, Brayden Rollins, and forward Caleb Campbell will step into larger roles. 

Pope said that those guys will be the difference-makers and each one has the opportunity to contribute to Lexington’s overall success.

“We’ve got a good group, and we’ve got different guys that can help us in different ways every single night,” Pope said. “We’re going to need that if we want to get to where we want.”

The Wildcats players are confident in their ability to get the job done. Evans said the team’s athleticism and experience will make them tough for any opponent. 

“We have a lot of seniors and a lot of upperclassmen, so I feel like this team is really mature,” Evans said. “Our athleticism and just the way we’re so long. We’re all long. We’re all like six feet or taller, so we all have a good wingspan. We all play really good defense.”

Lexington began its regular season with two wins in tournament games. The first was a 65-41 win against Fox Creek, followed by a 99-35 thrashing of Strom Thurmond. Pope wants to use these early season contests to get the team in proper condition for a push at a second consecutive region title and positive playoff seeding. 

There will be extra focus on making sure the defense, rhythm and rebounding are on point during this portion of the schedule. Minor mistakes in these categories cost the team last season. 

These hiccups are bound to happen at some point. But the players and coaches for the Wildcats want to stop them early, so when it matters more they rise to the occasion. 

“It’s really that eight-game season at the end of the year that is going to determine what we’re seeded,” Pope said. “We’ve got to be ready to go come out second week in January.”