BELLVILLE, Ohio — Lexington’s second road trip of the young season was less adventurous than its first, but every bit as productive.
A week after taking the road less traveled to Berlin and rallying from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit in an overtime win over Hiland, the Minutemen raced to an 85-52 win over Clear Fork at Les Hauenstein Gymnasium on Friday.
Last week’s expedition to eastern Holmes County for the season opener turned into a travel nightmare. The team bus finally got to Hiland’s Perry Reese Center about 20 minutes before the scheduled start of the junior varsity game.
“We made a couple of wrong turns,” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said with a laugh. “We hit towns I didn’t even know existed. I didn’t know they were on the map.
“It was an eventful trip to get over there.”
The Minutemen (2-0, 1-0 Ohio Cardinal Conference) made all the right moves Friday. Lex jumped out to a 17-11 first-quarter lead before stepping on the gas in the second, outscoring the inexperienced Colts (0-2, 0-2) 27-16 in the period for a 44-27 halftime advantage.
“We knew that Clear Fork was a very young team,” Hamilton said. “We told our guys we’ve got to stay hungry. We’ve got to focus on what we do and just take those good shots.
“Once we got a little bit of a lead, we needed great shots. We don’t want to take good shots, we want great shots.”
The Minutemen connected on 30 of 55 two-pointers for a blistering 54.5 percent. Lex was 6 of 12 from beyond the arc.
“Those guys are pretty big inside,” Clear Fork coach Steven Bechtel said. “We knew that was going to be an issue, but I was really pleased with the way the kids came out and played.”
Long-Range Bombers: The Colts stayed within striking distance early in the second half thanks to its long-distance marksmanship. Clear Fork connected on 11 of 30 3-pointers on the night.
“Against those guys, it was a little bit tougher to get it inside,” Bechtel said. “Eleven for 30, we’ll take that.
“We cut it to 11 in the third quarter, but they went on that extra run.”
Spread the Wealth: Lexington had six players in double figures, led by Joey Zahn’s 16 points. Chase Munro had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Jonah Yaussy had 10 points and nine boards. Joey Vore and Cade Stover each had 10 points.
“We’re trying to play a little bit faster and we think we’ve got the personnel,” Hamilton said. “Yaussy and Zahn are our guys. That’s who we’re going to go to but those other guys have got to be able to step up because we know that Yaussy and Zahn are going to draw the biggest defensive attention.”
Like Lex, Clear Fork had good balance in the scoring column. Chase Endicott led the way with 10 points, while Daniel Spencer, Christian Beer and Chance Barnett each had nine.
“We’ll take that every night and that effort, we’ll take that every night,” Bechtel said. “Once we got the ball movement and the player movement, we were pretty pleased.
“Their heart showed tonight and their effort. I was very pleased with that.”
