MANSFIELD — Conference championships aren’t won in December, but Lexington made an early-season statement Tuesday night inside Pete Henry Gym.
Brayden Fogle scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds as the Minutemen had their way with short-handed Mansfield Senior in a 70-45 Ohio Cardinal Conference win that was every bit as one-sided as the final score suggested.
The Minutemen (4-0, 2-0) never trailed and flirted with the running clock early in the fourth quarter when the lead ballooned to 29 points after a Fogle steal and dunk.
The listless Tygers (1-2, 1-1) trailed 15-8 after the first quarter and never threatened after the Minutemen opened the second on an 8-0 run to take a 23-8 lead.
“Bottom line: I’m happy to get a 25-point win at Pete Henry. There’s no doubt about it,” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said. “The final score is something we want to celebrate on their floor.
“When is the last time Lexington beat a Mansfield team at Pete Henry by 25?
“At the same time, we’ve got to make sure that we’re continuing to get better. Nineteen turnovers and 20 offensive rebounds for them. That’s not good basketball. That’s not getting better.”
The Minutemen minimized the damage caused by those 19 turnovers. Senior High scored just 12 points off Lex’s miscues. The Minutemen, meanwhile, scored 21 points off the Tygers’ 13 turnovers.
What’s more, Senior High managed just six second-chance points despite grabbing 20 offensive rebounds. Lexington grabbed 21 offensive rebounds and scored 15 second-chance points.
“It was just a really poor performance on our behalf,” Senior High coach Marquis Sykes said. “All around, from coaches to players, we didn’t get the job done tonight.
“We have to be better and it starts tomorrow.”
The Tygers played without starting guards Ja’Ontay O’Bryant, who is still recovering from a football injury, and Karion Lindsay, who Sykes said injured his ankle in practice.
Junior standout Kyevi Roane picked up two quick fouls and sophomore sharpshooter Rashad Reed Jr. sat out much of the second half after suffering a lower-body injury.
As a result, several players who might not normally be in the rotation logged meaningful minutes Tuesday night.
“We could never get our rhythm and it always hurts when one of your best players (Roane) gets in foul trouble early,” Sykes said. “We’re trying to figure out if we can get five guys who can be cohesive and play together and fly around and play Tyger basketball.
“We just couldn’t find a lineup tonight. We were trying to piece it together and we just couldn’t tonight.”
Roane led the Tygers with a game-high 17 points and nine rebounds. Duke Reese had nine points and a team-high 10 boards.
Jakob Legron, who played at Senior High last year, backed Fogle with 14 points for the Minutemen. Gavin Husty added 11 points, while Elijah Hudson swiped 10 boards and Seven Allen chipped in nine points.
“They had a few guys out, which definitely helped us,” Fogle said. “At the same time, I think tonight that we proved that we can play with almost anyone around here by playing fast.
“We have so many guys who can make plays and I think we all complement each other and our chemistry is so good together, it’s going to be hard to stop us.”