SAN ANTONIO -- UTSA men's basketball junior forward Lachlan Bofinger had a strong tour – on and off the court – with Sports Reach Basketball on a trip through Jamaica in May.
Bofinger, who led the team in scoring, was on a team that was made up of nine players from Abilene Christian, The Citadel, Louisiana-Lafayette, Ranger College, Lamar, Iowa State and Dallas Baptist. The team faced local universities, professional and club teams, as part of a mission trip that involved community service in Jamaica, including conducting youth camps and clinics.
Bofinger, a native of Sydney, Australia, averaged 19.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game over the six-game tour that saw Sports Reach go 6-0. He shot 76.9 percent from the field, connecting on 50 of 65 attempts.
His best game of the tour came in the opener, where he went for 29 points, seven rebounds and three assists – on 13 of 15 shooting – in just 23 minutes.
Bofinger is coming off a year that saw him play in all 32 games with 11 starts, logging 3.5 points and 3.9 rebounds per game over 15.5 minutes per outing.
He visited with goUTSA.com on Tuesday night to talk about his experience with the team and mission trip.
On how he found his way on the Sports Reach team …
Lachlan Bofinger: Coach Val (Juan Valenzuela) worked with us for the last year and he is a local preacher. He has been part of Sports Reach for some time now. He was the first one that asked me about whether I would be interested or not. Coach (Scott) Thompson and Coach (Steve) Henson, basically all of our staff, wanted me to go really bad because they had heard such good things about it. It was a mixture of all of my coaches that got me a spot."
On the experience off the court …
LB: Off the court, it was a super humbling experience. I got to see all the disadvantaged kids, how they live and how they don't have many of the necessities that we have become accustomed to. It was sad and humbling. It was an honor to get to know some of those kids, coach them in basketball and also get to play in front of them. Being on a mission trip, it brought me a lot closer to God. I've never really explored Jesus or the bible in that manner before. It was really good for my spirit.
On players he bonded with on the roster …
LB: They were super cool, a really good group of guys. Every single guy on the team was a good person. We all bonded really quick. We were only together for two weeks but we spent every minute of every day together. The people I was closest with – one of them was Tre King – he was at Eastern Kentucky for three years and made all-conference his final year and he has transferred to Iowa State. He is really good, but also he is just a really good guy. I really liked him. Two guys from Abilene Christian, Airion Simmons and Damien Daniels. Airion was a shorter Draymond Green, great IQ and a really nice guy. Damien was a quick point guard with a great IQ. I really liked playing with all of those guys."
On how his game developed in Jamaica …
LB: I gained a lot of confidence mostly. I was taking the most shots, which is usually not something I do. It was a chance to get out of my comfort zone. The coaches gave me a lot of freedom and they wanted me to shoot. That got me to break out of my shell and also just my teammates, they all had really high IQs and were good guys, who weren't afraid to pass the ball. They wanted me to score, they were the reason I was scoring so much because I am a good cutter (to the basket). A lot of the time they'd hit me on cuts and that is how I scored a lot of my points, just from them setting it up for me."
On how he has developed in his first two years on and off the court …
LB: In terms of basketball, I came in as just mainly an energy guy; defense and rebounding. I feel like over the years, I've become more of a playmaker, more of a scorer and more of a leader. I hope to continue to do that and make plays. Maturity on the court and knowing what it takes to win has been big in my development as well. In terms of off the court, I've also gained a lot of maturity. I've seen what works and what doesn't work in the college environment. Now that I know what works and what doesn't work, I need to be able to teach the younger guys the right way to do it and not the wrong way, so we can be a better team because of it."
On his first impressions of the newcomers during summer workouts …
LB: The first thing I noticed about all the new guys is just how humble they were. They are really high-character and they're not afraid to get to know you, which is really nice. I really like all of them. On the court, they are all very skilled, I'm excited to play with them. They are unselfish and they know the game and I think we're going to be very successful because of it."
- UTSA -
