MANSFIELD — Senior guard Bryant Givand has suddenly become the ironman of Lexington basketball.
With senior point guard Mason Kearns spending time on the bench in foul trouble on Tuesday night, and junior sixth man Kyle Johnston sidelined with a shoulder injury, Givand played 32 minutes for the second game in a row.
The 6-foot-1 Givand was more than up to the task, scoring 14 points to help Lexington knock off Vermilion, the district’s top seed, 46-43 at Madison Middle School in a Division II district semifinal.
The win propels the Minutemen (20-5) into Saturday’s 2 p.m. district title game against Sandusky (17-8). It’s the third straight year the two schools have met in the district championship game with each claiming one win.
“Bryant was huge for us tonight,” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said. “We had to get Mason off the floor due to foul trouble and Givand did a really nice job at the point-guard spot.
“When you have a senior, you gotta go to him and ‘G’ stepped up big tonight.”
GAME OF RUNS: The contest featured two significant runs and then a climactic finish.
Lexington led 16-8 after one quarter and then opened the second quarter with a 9-0 burst to expand the lead to 25-8.
But the Sailors (20-5) battled back, outscoring the Minutemen 26-8 over the next quarter-plus to tie the game at 34 going into the fourth period.
Clinging to a 39-38 lead, the Minutemen turned again to junior post Cade Stover, who scored inside with 2:54 and 1:42 left to expand the lead to 43-38. After that, the Minutemen got free throws from Givand and Kearns to close out the Sailors.
DEFEND THE PERIMETER: Vermilion has had success behind the 3-point line all season, including a sectional title win last week against Shelby.
But the Sailors connected on just 2-of-29 triples against Lexington, while connecting on 16 of 25 inside the arc.
“I would like to give a little bit of credit to our defense (for the cold shooting),” Hamilton said. “Vermilion was of 1 of 16 from deep in the first half. We told the kids if they are taking 16 3-pointers in a half, they must think they will start making them.
“So we had to continue to get out on the edge and keep contesting them.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Junior Ben Vore led Lexington with 16 points, including four triples. Stover, who was double- and triple-teamed inside by Vermilion, had 13 points and 19 rebounds.
Junior guard Joby Pfell led Vermilion with 14 points. Junior Mason Montgomery added 13 points, but was 0-for-9 from behind the arc.
Lexington shot 44 percent from the field (18-41) and added 4 of 6 from the line. Vermilion connected on 33 percent of its field goals (18-54) and just 5 of 13 from the line.
The Minutemen had a 40-27 rebounding edge, led by Stover. Seth Hurd had eight for Vermilion. Lexington committed 19 turnovers compared to nine for the Sailors.
UP NEXT: Hamilton said he knows Sandusky, led by a trio of scorers, poses a big challenge on Saturday.
“Once you get to a district championship game, you might as well win it, right?” Hamilton said with a grin. “We’re not coming (Saturday) just wanting to play. We are going to get prepared for a very good Sandusky team.
“We haven’t seen them during the regular season, but I think our schedule will help prepare us for them. They have three very nice players and some solid role players.
“We will enjoy this one tonight and then start getting ready. In a district championship game, you can’t expect to play someone easy.”
