Trojans’ Lovelace honored for 1,000th point

“When I was a freshman, I had a lot of doubts about my game,” Lovelace said. “I came in scared. I didn’t know what I would become at the high school level. But I just worked hard every day, doing extra like shooting 500 shots every day, and coming on the weekend. I didn’t expect to ever get 1,000 points but it happened, so it feels good.”

The point came on a free throw in West’s game on January 16. While the moment itself was big already, the Trojans opponent that night made it even more special.

The opponent was cross-town rival Morristown East, a game in which West came out of victorious, 56-53.

“It was amazing,” Lovelace said. “And we got the win. That was amazing. Especially because it says on the ball that it was against East. I will have that forever.”

Morristown West was a struggling basketball team when Lovelace began his high school career. The Trojans won just 12 games his freshman year, losing in the first round of the district tournament. However, the direction of the Trojans program seemed to turn during Lovelace’s sophomore year, his first year on varsity.

Coming off the bench, Lovelace was a key role player on a team that won 16 games. Then, during his junior season, West won 23 games and made it all the way to the Region 1-AAA quarterfinals.

This season has been different. The Trojans graduated nine seniors off that 23-win team, leaving Lovelace as one of the few players with game experience left on the squad. So, naturally, all he’s done is scored. And then scored some more.

Lovelace started the season off with a 40-point showing against Grainger, making nine 3-pointers with most of them coming from way beyond the 3-point line. Those shots have become the norm for him as he is comfortable taking a shot from anywhere past the half-court line.

He’s never slowed down since that first game, scoring 27 against Gatlinburg-Pittman and 22 and 29 against Cocke County.

“I feel like I have helped build a program here,” Lovelace said. “This year, we were coming in losing nine seniors, so I knew a lot of it was going to come on me. But this season has been great so far. I love the guys that I have played with. I don’t know what is going to happen at the end of the season, but I feel like we can make a run in the region and do better than we did last season. I really believe that.”

Lovelace capped off the night one Tuesday with a bang as he led his team to an upset win over Jefferson County, a team who had defeated them by 31 just weeks ago. Lovelace had 19 points.

“Anytime you have a 1,000 point scorer, it’s a compliment to him and his work ethic,” Smith said. “Trent is in the gym any time of the day. He’s in the gym on the weekend, after school and after practice. Trent deserves every glorification he gets. Credit to his teammates for getting him the ball too. Trent is an ideal teammate you want to play with. He’s a great teammate and a great player and a dream to coach.”