Athens Christian's Lillie one of state's leading rebounders, shot blockers

Athens Christian's Zach Lillie gives so much to his team, but coach Ron Link wishes the 6-foot-7 sophomore would keep a little more for himself.

The Eagles' power forward leads all classifications in blocks this season, averaging 6.5 per game, and he's the top rebounder in Class A, with 13.1 a night. Link is delighted with those numbers, but the veteran coach would like to see Lillie - who's third on the team in assists behind Anthony Cosby and Payton Mapp - look to shoot with more frequency.

"We're always after him to be more aggressive offensively," Link said. "But he always seems to be looking to pass the ball. He's really too unselfish. He's a great shooter, but he hardly ever thinks, 'shoot first.' It's more like 'shoot fourth.' "

Lillie said he prefers to see his fellow Eagles produce the points, but he understands why he's been given the green light and is expected to adhere to it.

"Coach is always encouraging me to shoot it more," Lillie said. "I just like to pass it and see my teammates score. But I know that because of my size, it's probably easier for me to score inside than one of our shorter guards. I've learned that it's OK to make the extra pass when it's necessary, but not all the time."

Lillie took Link's suggestion to heart last Tuesday and led the Eagles with a double-double performance of 21 points (matching his season high) and 15 rebounds in a 84-63 victory at Tallulah Falls.

Although Link - whose team lost to Commerce on Monday in both teams' regular-season finale - was obviously pleased with Lillie's production, he positively gushed when describing a particularly impressive play.

"He had five dunks against Tallulah and one of them was off a shot where he was running in for the rebound, caught the ball behind his head with one hand, reached out and slammed it," Link said. "The other coach said to me, 'How did he ever reach that?' "

The dunks are remembered, but Lillie - who on Sunday was named first-team All-Region 8-A (his teammate Chaz Sheats was named the region's top player) - also spoke of a favorite defensive play.

"Tallulah Falls was fun because we had a lot of dunks and fast breaks, and we played some pretty good defense in the first half, although we slacked off late," he said. "I had some dunks, but I was also able to pin the ball on the backboard on one of their shots. Doing something like that - or blocking a ball into the stands - is electrifying, although when you knock the ball out of bounds, the other team gets it."

In the blocked shot department, Lillie has few peers. He's got 150 blocks, 63 more than his closest rival (Hebron Christian's Anthony Stewart, with 87) and Link said he can take no credit for the sophomore's ability to quickly change the direction of a field-goal attempt.

"I've never coached a rebounder or a blocker like him," Link said. "He's just got great timing and that's something you can't teach. You can head fake all you want, but the second your feet leave the floor, he's on you. Sometimes people say 'just stay away from him' and other times people say 'attack him,' but it usually ends up the same."

"My teammates do a really good job on defense denying the outside shot, so it forces people to try to the lane, where Chaz and I are waiting to make a block or take a charge," Lillie said.

As the postseason picture begins to take shape, Lillie knows he must contribute more points if the Eagles are to approach their Class A final four appearance of a year ago.

"He's going to have to step up and shoot more for us if w

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