Stronger, slimmer Langley dominant in Bosse's win

The change in a stronger, slimmer Javien Langley is staggering.

Already regarded as an accomplished player, Langley seemingly did chin-ups on the rim in this year's season opener, pounding the glass with authority on Friday night. His Bosse High School teammates did their best to follow suit in a 68-61 boys' basketball victory over visiting Jeffersonville.

Langley, who has dropped 25 pounds, scored a game-high 19 points and had 10 rebounds. He had never previously had three dunks in a game at the varsity level. He is well aware that a little more defense is played in the winter than in summer ball.

“Now I’m to the point where I have dunked enough in practice and over the summer,” said Langley, a 6-foot-5 senior forward. “Dunks get us going, but you still have to play defense. That’s the biggest thing.”

Bosse coach Shane Burkhart was “really anxious” to see Langley start the season. He said Langley had improved so much and was so dominant in summer ball, it almost seemed commonplace. He elevated the play of everyone around him.

“I was looking forward to him getting in a game against somebody who didn’t understand how good he is,” Burkhart said.

Langley has been on a mission ever since the Bulldogs lost the Class 3A state championship game to Marion last March.

“Pretty much since the state game ... I went home devastated,” Langley said. “From that night on, I was running three times a day. I would get up at 5 a.m. and go run.”

He would work out with the team and conduct a personal workout later in the day.

“I worked on getting more versatile and my balance,” Langley said.

Bosse hit the offensive boards and used its devastating quickness to force Jeff into 23 turnovers. Still, the Red Devils managed to hang around. Gerrin Moore’s driving layup narrowed the Bulldogs’ lead to 44-41 with 7:25 remaining. But Mekhi Lairy passed to Langley for a layup and Langley followed with a dunk to begin an 11-0 run.

“It’s just a mental thing, right there,” Langley said. “You have to step up and meet the ball and finish the game. That’s what we’ve got to do every night.”

Bosse had seven of its 15 turnovers in the third period.

“Defense is supposed to be ahead of the offense right now,” Burkhart said. “We’re still searching for an identity on offense. I keep trying to explain to them that defense wins games and rebounding wins games.”

He noted that the Bulldogs had lulls at the end of the third quarter and the end of the game.

“We were up 15 in the second half,” Burkhart said. “We had a couple of breakdowns.”

Lairy, a 5-10 junior, had a triple-double – 16 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists – as the Bulldogs outrebounded Jeff, 44-31. Bosse, ranked No. 3 in 3A, will play at Logansport, ranked No. 8 in 4A, at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

Bailey Falkenstein led Jeff (1-1) with 18 points.