While not seeing much time on the varsity team as a freshman, Iowa’s Dashawn Ceaser learned how to work and improve his skill set. After a breakout sophomore season last year, Ceaser isn’t slowing down, determined to lead the Jackets to a state championship.

Last year Ceaser helped the Yellow Jackets reach the quarterfinal round, averaging 13 points per game on the season as the Jackets went 26-5.

Ceaser prepared for his sophomore year by working on his skills and mindset.

“I think confidence was the big difference,” he said. “My freshman year I saw that you had to do extra work. I learned from guys like Davonte Wright, Alex Prudhomme and Curtis Deville. I worked extra on my shooting and it helped give me the confidence that I could play.”

As a sophomore, Ceaser provided the Jackets with an explosive scorer off the bench. He improved to 17.9 ppg in district games to earn first team All District. He scored a team-high 26 points in Iowa’s regional round win over Lutcher and reached the finals of the Louisiana High School Basketball Coaches Association’s Three Point Contest.

Ceaser’s summer goals are improving on the other end of the floor.

“I want to be better on defense and am working on getting into better shape so I can go up-and-down the floor,” he said. “I’m playing AAU with Louisiana Elite and am playing against some of the best players in the state, the best players from Baton Rouge and New Orleans. That’s helping me improve my game. I’m learning a few things I can bring back here.”

Last year’s trip to the quarterfinals was the first in 27 years for the Jackets. Ceaser wants more.

“We can go further than that this year,” he said. “We are more disciplined, more bought in. We have a lot of juniors back.”

Ceaser has big individual goals for his final two years.

“I want to be all state, the state most valuable player and to lead my team to the state tournament.”

Iowa head coach Robert Melanson said Ceaser was at his best when the team needed him most.

“He really turned it up a notch last year,” Melanson said.

“I don’t know what got into him besides gaining a lot of confidence, but around district time it’s like it was a new kid out there. He peaked at the right time for us and that has carried over into the summer. He’s on a good AAU team and has been able to travel a bit and play against some of the better players in the country, in addition to the team camps we have gone to. We played against Newman, we played Madison Prep twice, played Carver and he went out there and did what he needed to do. He showed improvement and played with a lot of confidence.”

Melanson said he hopes to see a better, and more aggressive, version of Ceaser this fall.

“He’s got to get stronger, get better handling the ball and can get a bit of cockiness,” Melanson said. “He already has the green light, but he can get a bit of cockiness with that. He listens and he is very coachable. He does what we ask.”