GALION, Ohio — Lexington played its best half of the season.
Jonah Yaussy played the best game of his career.
Yaussy scored a career-high 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and the Minutemen rumbled to a 74-52 win over Sandusky in Saturday’s Division II district championship game at Galion High School.
Lexington (24-2) captured its first district title since 2008 and will play Ottawa-Glandorf in the regional semifinals at 6:15 p.m. Thursday at Bowling Green State University’s Stroh Center. Ottawa-Glandorf defeated Defiance 46-43 in the Ohio Northern district championship game Saturday.
The Minutemen outscored the Blue Streaks (19-4) 13-3 in the opening four minutes and led 24-9 after the first quarter. Yaussy scored eight first-quarter points and had 17 at the half as Lex extended its advantage to 39-20.
“We were pretty fired up coming out for this game,” Yaussy said. “We’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. We were focused from the start.”
Yaussy connected on 4 of 8 field goal attempts in the opening half, but was 9 of 12 at the free throw line. He drew seven fouls in the first half alone.
“It all started inside. Jonah was just tearing them up,” said point guard Joey Zahn, who had four of Lexington’s 17 assists. “If he gets the ball one-on-one in the post, he’s scoring 85 percent of the time. I think they figured that out so they had to foul him.”
No Answer: The Streaks had no answer for the 6-foot-5 Yaussy or 6-5 Cade Stover. The freshman sensation had 17 points and 14 rebounds.
“There is nothing you can do to combat (Lexington’s height),” said Sandusky coach Colin Irish, whose tallest starter was 6-2 forward Brent Hanson. “When we fronted them, they were throwing it over the top. We got behind them, they were shooting over us.”
Lex dominated on the glass, outrebounding Sandusky 50-27. The Minutemen swiped 17 offensive boards.
“That goes back to when coach (Jamie) Feick was here. We’ve always wanted to dominate on the boards,” Lex coach Scott Hamilton said. “When you’ve got guys like Stover and Yaussy inside it makes it a little bit easier. Some of the bigger rebounds tonight (came from) Connor Baughman just out of the blue.”
Defense: While Yaussy and Stover were torching Sandusky at the offensive end, Baughman and fellow senior guard Joey Vore were locking down Jayrese Williams at the defensive end. Sandusky’s junior standout was held scoreless in the first quarter and limited to five points in the first half.
“We just put our best defenders on him and made sure we knew where he was all the time,” Zahn said. “Vore and Connor were all over him. He eventually hit a few, but he took a lot of shots.”
The Northwest District Player of the Year in Division II, Williams scored a team-high 16 points on 5 of 18 shooting. The Streaks struggled from the field all afternoon, connecting on just 17 of 54 attempts.
“At the beginning of the game we didn’t make shots. We had some really good looks but we just didn’t make them,” Irish said. “That’s the nature of the beast. We were fortunate against Shelby to make shots, we were fortunate against Ontario to make shots. It came down to two things: we didn’t make shots and their size.”
Redemption: The Blue Streaks knocked Lexington out of the tournament in last year’s district semifinals, outscoring the Minutemen 8-0 in the final 1:20 of a 58-55 Sandusky victory. Zahn missed the front end of two one-and-one situations in the final minute of last year’s game.
“That was in our heads all summer and up until this moment,” said Zahn, who scored 12 points and turned the ball over just twice against Sandusky’s relentless pressure. “I went back and watched the game film from last year and I was like, ‘We’re not letting that happen again this year.’ ”
On the Rebound: Sandusky is 40-8 with a Northern Ohio League title and a district championship in Irish’s two seasons as head coach. The Streaks have won more games in the past two years than in the previous four years combined.
“They’ve done a lot for Sandusky basketball this year and over the course of the last two seasons,” Irish said. “It stings now, but we have a good group of kids who are becoming young men. I don’t want them to forget what we’ve done.”
Scouting Report: Lexington’s regional semifinal opponent, Ottawa-Glandorf, is northwest Ohio basketball royalty. The Titans have been to the Final Four seven times and have won three state titles since 2004.
“We’ll start getting ready for the next game starting tomorrow,” Yaussy said. “We’re going to enjoy this one tonight.”
