By Kalen Lumpkins klumpkins@postandcourier.com

COLUMBIA — Talk about a turnaround. 

"The message after the season last year was everybody on our team has to get better," Ben Lippen coach Jay Reid said. "We talk about, if only one person gets better, our entire team doesn't get better."

Last season, the Ben Lippen boys' basketball team finished 13-13 in a frustrating up and down campaign. The team lost seven of its last nine, most by double digits. The team's playoff run was stopped as soon as the green light lit, and the year ended with a third loss to Hammond. 

Luckily for the Falcons, they still had some fuel for 2024-25. 

They've already surpassed their win total from the season before as they sit at 17-3. During the best start in school history, they have defeated defending champ Lexington as well as Cardinal Newman for the first time since 2010. They're nearly a top 30 team in South Carolina and on the rise, according to MaxPreps. Fans are starting to realize that there's a different air in the Ben Lippen locker room. 

"Each year, the excitement level of the parents, the players and people around the school has gotten a lot better," Reid said. "The parents, they would just stop me, some I didn't even know, and were like 'Hey, Coach, your team fought last night, tell them to keep their heads up.' Stuff like that definitely didn't happen my first couple years here.

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