Hillsboro High mourns death of freshman team player

Hillsboro's boys varsity basketball team took the court Tuesday night not only looking for a win in the traditional sense, but for a victory for a fallen teammate.

"It was very big," said player Kobe Reeves. "We had to put a win up for our man who passed away. We've just got to go to state and finish for him."

LeVonzell "L.T." Taylor, 15, died Tuesday after collapsing over the weekend during a basketball game in Atlanta, according to Rashed Fakhruddin, whose son played on Hillsboro's freshman team with Taylor.

The Burros varsity team beat Mt. Juliet 44-31 on Tuesday and advanced to next week's Class AAA state tournament.

Fakhruddin, president of Islamic Center of Nashville, said he was told Taylor's heart stopped beating and that he wasn't getting enough oxygen during the game. Fakhruddin said the team has taken the news hard.

Yusef Fakhruddin, Rashed's and Taylor's teammate who is also 15, said he has heard his varsity teammates say they wanted to win the state title for Taylor.

"He had great sportsmanship," he said. "He was a great team player. He played that leadership role with the team. He was a motivator who pushed us harder."

Player Donovan Donaldson said Taylor's teammates kept repeating in the huddles, "do it for him, do it for him."

People took to social media Tuesday lamenting Taylor's death, with such posts on Twitter as "(Levonzell), we love you & Hillsboro gonna win it all for you #LTStrong," posted on the profile @_kiriaa.

The school held a moment of silence before the start of its game with Mt. Juliet.

"Rest easy, L.T.," a PA announcer said before the game.

Burros head coach Rodney Thweatt called Taylor "a great kid on and off the court."

"I don't know what the emotional toll will be," he said. "I've never dealt with it, so I don't know where it will push us, but we won't use it as an excuse either way. Hopefully, this will bring us together, and we can play for him, but for now our concerns are with his family."

Contact Jordan Buie at 615-726-5970 or on Twitter @jordanbuie. Contributing: Sam Brown, Tony Gonzalez