Growth spurt helps Eagle become dangerous shot blocker, rebounder

As a freshman, Zach Lillie never looked at his stat sheet.

But in his sophomore season, the 6-foot-7 Athens Christian forward can't help but take notice of his numbers through 18 games.

Lillie has compiled 127 blocked shots (7.1 per game) and 245 rebounds (13.6 per game) - numbers that rank among the best in the state.

"Last year, we did awesome, but I never looked at any records or stats for rebounding or blocks," Lillie said. "So I really didn't know how I was doing last year. But when I saw this year's numbers, I just think how God keeps blessing me with more and more things. We're doing great in the region and I have a great team."

The Eagles are 12-6, but 8-2 in the region - success that is largely due to Lillie's defensive presence in the paint, which contributed to Athens Christian's 76-29 blowout win over Towns County on Tuesday.

"They gameplanned for him and didn't come inside," Athens Christian coach Ron Link said.

Lillie only finished with two blocks, but brought down 15 rebounds in the process.

Lillie's had his share of highlight reel blocks this year, with one particularly sticking out in his mind. Earlier this season against Salem, sophomore Shaquille Johnson "kept dunking on everyone" before Lillie did his part to put a stop to it.

"He went to dunk on (point guard) Anthony (Cosby) one time and I came up from behind and threw it out of bounds," Lillie said. "And everyone went crazy."

Said Link: "His timing is unbelievable. It's something you don't teach. That's not coaching. He's got a God-given gift, to time a shot to go up and get it."

Link added he hasn't seen a high school player possess Lillie's caliber of shot-blocking skills in the last 36 years.

"I had Eddie Horton, we called him Big E. He was 6-foot-9, at Bass High School (former school in Atlanta)," Link said. "Eddie a