LEXINGTON — There was no PA announcement. No post-game ceremony. It’s likely most in the game at Lexington High School left afterward not knowing they had seen a milestone.
With a 70-51 Ohio Cardinal Conference win over Ashland on Friday night, Lexington coach Scott Hamilton posted his 100th career victory in just his sixth season.
Hamilton, now 100-44, laughed and blamed assistant coach Jay Guth for even bringing it up during a post-game interview.
“It’s something only he has been tracking,” Hamilton said with a smile. “He has been bringing it up so often … been kind of annoying to me.”
The win improved this year’s Lexington team to 13-5 and 6-3 in the OCC, tied for second with Mansfield Senior and Wooster, all trailing league-leading Mount Vernon by one game.
Ashland slipped to 2-14 overall, 1-8 in the OCC.
FAST START: Lexington struck early, jumping out to a 22-11 lead after one quarter and 38-21 at the half.
The Minutemen, who collected nine offensive rebounds in the first half, had nine second-chance points during the first 16 minutes. Junior post Cade Stoverhad 15 of his game-high 22 points and four of his seven rebounds in the first half.
“We told the guys were some of (Ashland’s) weaknesses may be and we tried to attack them early. That was the mentality. We had to get it going because we knew if played well, we could put it away,” Hamilton said.
Ashland coach Jason Hess credited Lexington’s approach.
“Lexington was a lot more aggressive than we were right from the start,” Hess said. “We gave up a lot of offensive rebounds in the first half and those are plays that put you in a hole fast.
“When they get an offensive rebound, it’s pretty demoralizing, especially when they stick it right back in the basket,” Hess said. “We didn’t show up with much effort tonight and they were better than us.”
ARROW RALLY: Ashland went to an effective full-court press in the third quarter, creating seven Lexington turnovers and allowing the Arrows to trim the lead to 47-38 with 2:40 left in the period.
But Lexington got two straight triples from Kyle Johnston and a basket by Nick Stehle to build the lead back to 55-40 heading into the fourth. The Minutemen added on in the fourth, building a 61-41 lead with 4:17 left in the game.
“We challenged our kids at halftime and I thought our effort in the second half was a lot better, especially in the third quarter. We had a lot more energy and were a lot more active.
“Unfortunately, we missed some chances petty close to the basket that could have cut it to six at one point and could have really made it interesting,” Hess said.
Hamilton said, “We feared going into the third quarter that we would come out and get to feeling comfortable and relaxed. But we hit of couple of quick shots and got it turned back around.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stover was the only player in double figures for Lexington. Johnston finished with nine as 11 different Minutemen scored.
Three Arrows had double-digit point production. Garrett Denbow had 14, Mitchell Heilman with 12 and Keagan Armitage finished with 11.
Lexington had a huge 37-20 rebounding edge against the taller Arrows, led by eight fron Ben Vore and seven from Stover. Denbow led Ashland with five.
Lexington committed 13 turnovers, 11 coming in the second half. Ashland also had 13 turnovers.
UP NEXT: Lexington plays on Tuesday at West Holmes in another OCC game. Ashland hosts Mount Vernon that same night.
