HERMAN — There was no evidence to suggest that it would be Lemuel McFadden’s night.

The 6-foot-2 Summit Academy junior forward can barely believe what happened now.

Against Apollo-Ridge last Friday, McFadden scored 15 points in the fourth quarter and helped the Knights win 68-67 after trailing by 21 points in the third quarter.

McFadden, who scored a career-high 22 points, was averaging 7.4 points per game before the game against the Vikings.

Before this season, McFadden had never played organized basketball.

“I didn’t even think I was going to be the one. I thought we were going to hit a couple 3s and give it to (Dasonte) White and Devin (Montgomery),” McFadden said. “Somehow, it just magically came to me. I felt good actually. I never did such a thing to help my team come back as a whole.”

That’s the attitude first-year head coach Adam Petrosky has sold to the Knights. On any given night, someone different can be the hero.

Summit Academy, which only had two players with prior varsity experience, has rolled to an 11-3 start and are 6-0 in the section this season. The Knights have won six straight.

The Knights are led by Dasonte White, who averages 18.5 points per game, and Devin Montgomery, who averages 16.8. Donte Tyson (12.1) also averages in double figures.

Summit Academy has been especially efficient offensively, averaging 72.5 points per game.

“One of the things we talked about early in the season was that over the past three seasons I’ve seen different guys step up and be heros in games,” Petrosky said. “I tried to ingrain that and I’ve pushed it and pushed it day in and day out that while Montgomery and White are scoring now, teams are going to key on them down the road.”

McFadden bought into the mantra, even with his lack of basketball experience.

“Honestly, I never even played for a team. I was more of a football fanatic,” McFadden said. “I didn’t have ball experience playing with an actual team, coming together and doing the things we’re doing right now.”

White and McFadden were the Knights’ only players with varsity experience and are former rivals. They played against each other in a summer league in the city of Pittsburgh.

“We’ve been playing against each other for years in city parks. He always used to get the best of our team and we always used to lose,” White said. “We came up here, I knew we were going to have a chance to be better than other years. We just have to play hard like we usually do.”

White, who played for Westinghouse, convinced Montgomery, who played for Carrick, to come out for the team.

“When I first came up here, I was lost about what to do,” Montgomery said. “He introduced me to Adam and he said we needed a point guard and I came at the right time.”

Apprehensive at first, Petrosky felt more comfortable with how his team would be after they scrimmaged Eden Christian and St. Joe’s five days after they started practice Nov. 18.

Having White and Montgomery helped take pressure off the more inexperienced players.

“We were fortunate. We had been coming into the gym about a month before to see what we had,” Petrosky said. “Frankly, I thought we would get it handed to us at those scrimmages. ... Having two experienced guards, you can make up a lot of time.”

Since losing to Quaker Valley Dec. 21, the Knights have won seven of their past eight games.

White is excited for this team’s potential and he hopes to leave a footprint behind.

“I wanted to be able to help my teammates on another level. I wanted a championship experience,” White said. “I came up here to try and build something with my teammates to build a legacy for the Summit Academy.”