MADISON TOWNSHIP — Tim Mergel has watched Lexington’s Cade Stover for four years, coaching against the 6-5 senior as he became the leading scorer in Minutemen history.
The Madison coach decided to try something Friday night against Stover perhaps he hasn’t seen before, a box-and-one defense that had a defender in the Lexington star’s face all night long.
The defense worked, but the Rams’ couldn’t match the success on their own offensive end, dropping a 46-32 decision in an Ohio Cardinal Conference game at Madison Middle School.
Lexington improved to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the OCC. Madison slipped to 3-7, 1-3.
Stover, who didn’t get his first FG attempt until the 1:16 mark of the second quarter, was just six of 14 from the field and two of five at the line, finishing with 14 points, eight of which came in the final period.
“I watched Stover for four years, probably seen 70 games on him just scouting Lex throughout the years,” Mergel said. “I don’t know if I saw a box-and-one against him. If (an opponent) ran a box-and-one on him, I missed that scout.”
Stover was hounded primarily by 6-1 junior Dylan Metz, though 6-4 junior Brian Joplin also took a turn.
“We just thought we would shake the bush a little bit. We wanted to make them a little uncomfortable, which I thought we did a nice job of … it was effective,” Mergel said. “It’s just our own ineffectiveness on offense that is hurting us right now in these games against good teams.”
Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said his own team didn’t attack on offense Friday night.
“We prepared a little bit for junk defenses,” Hamilton said. “What we saw tonight is when they went to that defense, we just didn’t attack it. We weren’t real active against it. We want to attack that more the next time we see it. Let’s face it, Cade is going to draw a lot of attention.”
SLUGGISH OFFENSES: Both teams struggled on offense. Lexington shot just 43 percent from the field (19-44), including three of 10 on three-points. Madison hit 30 percent (11-37), just five of 17 on triples.
Lexington led 6-5 after one quarter and 21-12 at halftime.
“We stress a little bit of patience (on offense),” Mergel said. “I have got really coachable kids and they listen. They kind of took that to an extreme. We weren’t very aggressive and we didn’t put Lex into situations defensively where they had to react a whole lot.
“They work hard. They listen. They look you in the eye when you talk to them. They battled hard. It’s just unfortunate for us we work as hard as we do defensively and we can’t get a reward offensively. I think it will come. It’s just something we have to work on,” Mergel said.
Two of Madison’s first-quarter points came on free throws before the game even officially started after Lexington was assessed with a technical foul when Stover dunked during the pre-game warm-up.
“The thing we told all the guys is it’s a lack of discipline. You know you are not allowed to do it. Cade knew it. He felt bad that we started the game like that. There is going to come a point in time where that lack of discipline is going to hurt you. Luckily, for us, tonight it didn’t,” Hamilton said.
“We’re going to celebrate the win. Anytime you leave Madison with a win, you gotta be happy about it,” Hamilton said. “It’s another win, we’re a little bit better and we’re moving on.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Senior guard Kyle Johnston matched Stover with 14 points, hitting five of seven FG attempts, including two of three triples. Senior forward Nick Stehle came off the bench to score six points.
Senior guard Jashawn Au led Madison with nine points, including two of four triples. Junior guard Jayondrae Jones and senior guard Tyler Tackett each had eight.
The taller Minutemen had a 30-26 rebounding edge, led by Stover with 10. Au led Madison with five. Lexington had nine turnovers, compared to 18 for Madison.
UP NEXT: Both teams play away games Saturday night. Lexington travels to Upper Sandusky and Madison is at Big Walnut.
