Lake Travis senior D’Marcus Lacy proved that you can indeed go home again, even if you have homes in two vastly different places.

Lacy left Lake Travis for Galveston following his sophomore year. With family in both places, a good visit to Galveston in June led him to consider making the change more permanent.

“I kind of got used to it there so I asked my mom if I could stay there for the school year and see how it goes,” Lacy said last Thursday after helping the Cavaliers to a 56-45 win over Stony Point at the Jack Frost Tournament in Georgetown.

Things, though, didn’t go quite as he hoped. Without elaborating any more than mentioning “family issues,” Lacy asked his mom, who lives in Lake Travis ISD, if he could move back, and between semesters of his junior year, he did just that.

“My mom was still here in Lake Travis,” he said. “My family was in Galveston, but there was nothing [else] really there for me. Lake Travis was a better opportunity for me and my family.”

It took some time – because he had played five games at Ball High School in Galveston, the UIL required that Lacy sit out all but the last four games of Lake Travis’ season and play on the junior varsity – to fully return. Still, he said, the move back proved worth it.

“Moving back, I fit in right to the program,” he said.

He’d made the varsity team as a sophomore, but the roster was loaded with seniors and playing time was sparse, so he asked the coaches if he could play on the junior varsity with his classmates. They agreed playing would be better than sitting, and Lacy continued his development.

Following his UIL mandated stint on the junior varsity last year, Lacy was one of three players elevated to the varsity for last season’s playoffs, though he didn’t play in a win over McNeil or a season-ending loss to DeKaney that ended Lake Travis’ season at 30-5.

As a senior with full playing privileges in both football and basketball, Lacy is making up for lost time. As part of a deep defensive backfield platoon, he earned all-district honors in football despite the season coming to an end earlier than he hoped, and he’s quickly adjusting back to basketball. Getting into basketball shape has been the toughest part.

“It’s taken some time to get his legs back underneath him, but he’s definitely got the ability to contribute both offensively and defensively,” said Cavaliers’ coach Clint Baty.

“Conditioning has been tough,” Lacy admitted. “Football, we get a lot of breaks in between plays. For basketball I just have to work on my conditioning.”

Lacy is playing anywhere from eight to 15 minutes per game, depending on what Baty needs. A point guard by trade, Lacy understands that versatility is a must.

“We want every player to be able to play defense and rebound,” Baty said. “D’Marcus can do both of those. He’ll play some point guard for us, be that extra ball-handler that we need in certain situations.”

Against Stony Point, he made his mark without scoring, clamping down on Tigers’ guard Blake Buckner after two early threes turned a Lake Travis lead into a brief deficit. The performance was exactly what his coach wanted to see.

“I kind of like having someone who can just shut down somebody else,” Baty said. “It’s nice having D’Marcus be able to do that.”

Lacy loves that role.

“I see myself as a facilitator, getting guys open,” he said. “If I have to lock down anyone on defense, that’s my job. Defense wins championships, so I’m a defensive player.”

Buckner didn’t score with Lacy guarding him, and the Cavaliers turned a 28-27 deficit into a 40-29 lead.

Lacy hopes to make similar contributions over the remainder of the season, one in which he hopes the Cavaliers make the extended playoff run that he missed out on in football.