Mitchell Christian's Aaron Lemon tears ACL, out for rest of basketball season

Eleven days ago Mitchell Christian boys’ basketball player Aaron Lemon went down with an apparent knee injury.

In an interview with The Daily Republic Monday, Lemon’s father and MCS Athletic Director Bob Lemon confirmed that his son suffered a complete tear of his anterior cruciate ligament Jan. 18, in the fourth quarter of a boys’ high school basketball game against Tripp-Delmont/Armour.

The junior, who was the team’s second leading scorer and rebounder, will have surgery sometime in June and make an attempt to run track this spring.

Lemon, who is averaging 9.2 points per game and four rebounds per game, runs the 400- and 800-meter race on the track. Last season, he was the top-seeded non-senior in the Class B 800-meter state championship race.

“Basically (Aaron) was given the option of when he can do the surgery. The doctor said he doesn’t have to do it right now and he can wait,” Bob Lemon said. “He will have to miss the fall soccer season. We talked it over and that was something he was OK with.”

The ACL is located deep within the knee joint and is one of the four main ligaments that connects it to the shinbone and thighbone.

In the past, having an ACL tear was seen as a death sentence to an athlete’s career, but with modern technology and physical therapy, some athletes have come back as good or better than they previously were.

“I am hoping for the best,” said Aaron Lemon, who described the pain of the injury as something he had never felt before. “They gave me a time frame of six to eight months to come back … I am hoping for the lower end of that scale, so I can get back to running.”

Lemon’s family has a history of knee injuries as the three-sport athlete’s sister, father, grandfather and great-grandfather all tore ACLs and his brother tore his meniscus.

Once Lemon has his surgery, he will have to wait six months before he can begin rehab. On that timetable, Lemon would miss his entire senior season of basketball.

“It was extra hard to see Aaron go down because he is a tremendous young athlete, a hard worker and a great team leader for our basketball team,” MCS boys’ coach Dennis Martin said. “It would be a really big loss to us if he is unable to come back for senior season because of his leadership, but I understand because he is a really good track athlete and wants to be ready for that season.”

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