LEXINGTON — Lexington is ranked second in Ohio among Division II basketball teams, a squad best known for 6-foot-8 senior Elijah Hudson and five heralded sophomores.
But it was the team’s two juniors who made their presence felt on Friday night in a 74-50 home win against Ashland.
Starter Gavin Husty and substitute Jakob LeGron combined for 21 points, four rebounds and nine assists in a Ohio Cardinal Conference game that was much closer than the final score would indicate.
In fact, it took a 22-8 fourth quarter, sparked by six straight points from Legron, for the Minutemen to finally gain separation from an Arrows team that Lexington beat 88-54 back in December.
The win inched Lexington one step closer to the OCC title. Coach Scott Hamilton’s squad is now 17-1 overall and 11-0 in the league. Ashland fell to 6-10, 3-7.
The Minutemen kept a two-game lead on Mansfield Senior (12-3, 9-2) as the Tygers prevented Lexington from clinching at least a share of the title with an 83-56 win at Wooster on Friday night.
Hamilton said the efforts of Husty and Legron are essential.
It’s added depth even on a team that has Hudson (15 points, seven rebounds) and sophomores Brayden Fogle (17 points, eight rebounds and five assists), Joe Caudill (12 points, two rebounds) and Seven Allen (eight points, two assists).
“We’ve worked with (the two junior guards) to become much better defenders. They’re offensive-minded guys. They can shoot the ball very well. We’re very confident in their shooting ability,” Hamilton said.
“So when we put them out on the floor tonight with the size matchup, and of course with (Ashland’s 3-point shooters), they knew what they had to defend. It’s a huge factor for us. We’re glad to have all these guys. There’s no question,” Hamilton said.
The coacch also praised efforts off the bench by sophomore twin brothers Dantrell and Latrell Hughes.
Husty connected on 5 of 10 shots, including a triple, to finish with 12 points to go with six assists on a night Allen was limited to 20 minutes due to foul trouble. Legron hit four field goals, including a triple, to register nine points and three assists in 17 minutes.
“I think (the juniors) have to take different roles. Not bigger roles … more defensive roles and shooting roles,” Husty said of the season. “I think every single player on the team could start.”
He admitted it’s been a season of adjustments. He and Legron have combined to connect on more than 30 treys while combining to average around 13 points per game.
“It’s hard to know your own role. You’ve got to know what you’re expected to do. I mean, seniors are supposed to lead the team. Juniors, there are only two of us, we’re supposed to lead the team for the younger players. So that’s more of a role … to play defense and run shoot threes,” Husty said with a smile.
Lexington led just 45-40 with 2:50 left in the third quarter before ending the period on a 7-2 run fueled by four Arrows’ turnovers. They finished with 24 miscues on the night.
“(Turnovers) were the difference in the game,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “I told our guys those turnovers probably led to almost 40 (Lexington) points.
“Lexington, as talented as they are, they don’t really do a lot in the halfcourt. It was their run-outs (after turnovers) and we can’t defend run-outs. That’s where our guys, we’ve got to grow up and figure it out.
“We have two sophomore guards out there and they have got to figure out how to handle the ball a little bit against pressure. Unfortunately, we aren’t blessed with big guards, so it’s a lot harder to see around and make passes when you’re on the smaller side.
“But I thought as far as effort-wise, I’m super proud of the way we competed.
“I thought we played hard we ran out of gas a little bit (in the fourth quarter). I think just their size and athleticism kind of wears on you. Unfortunately, we didn’t close out the third quarter quite the way we had hoped to. So it kind of snowballed there and got away from us,” Hess said.
Lexington started the game with a 10-0 run before the Arrows battled back to trail just 16-13 after one period.
“We got off to a decent start and then (Ashland) kind of dug back in. I thought we had some silly turnovers and just didn’t play the way that we had worked on getting ready for these guys. We had a gameplan in place and we were just kind of going rogue in a lot of things,” Hamilton said.
Paxon Ediger led Ashland with 17 points, connecting on 7 of 11 shots, including three triples. Gabe Baith and Tyler Sauder each added 10.
(Below is a PDF file with the complete box score from the Lexington-Ashland game on Friday night.)
