LEXINGTON — This unbeaten Lexington basketball team, laden with five sophomores, may one day win games that rival any victories in the program’s storied history.
If that day does come — and there are no guarantees in life (or high school sports) — a 61-57 win on Saturday against a talented and experienced Shelby team may be recalled as the night the young Minutemen were forged in a fiery crucible.
In front of more than 2,000 raucous fans at Lexington High School, the super sophomores accounted for 106 of the possible 160 minutes — roughly 68 percent of the entire game.
The talented quintet, led by 6-5 forward Brayden Fogle, scored 77 percent of Lexington’s points, pulled down 64 percent of the team’s rebounds and dished out 75 percent of the Minutemen assists.
(Above: Lexington sophomore Dantrell Hughes scores to break a 57-57 tie with 43 seconds left against Shelby on Saturday night.)
The youngsters absorbed one powerful body blow after another from 6-6 Shelby senior All-Ohioan Alex Bruskotter, who drove and drove and drove against the Minutemen defense, indefatigably scoring 32 points and pulling down 13 rebounds in 31 minutes of his own.
They held the Whippets to just 32 percent shooting from the floor (19/60) and forced 12 turnovers while allowing just five Shelby assists.
They survived a cauldron of a game that saw the lead change hands 10 times and was tied on nine other occasions.
They overcame a 42-31 rebounding deficit, one of the few times all season the opponent on the floor has been taller than the Minutemen.
They outscored the Whippets 7-2 in the final two minutes of the game after falling behind 55-54, getting a traditional three-point play from Fogle and lay-ups from Joe Caudill and Dantrell Hughes.
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In short, they found a way to win and improve to 10-0 against a Shelby team (6-2), whose only other loss thus far this season was a 67-63 defeat against perennial state powerhouse Ottawa-Glandorf.
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With the victory, they “graduated” one day early from coach Scott Hamilton’s sophomore record book.
“Always for us, it’s been January 1,” Hamilton said after the game.
“I remember telling Fogle last year (on Jan. 1), you’re no longer a freshman, you are a varsity player. You have to act like one, you have to play like one, you have to carry yourself like one.
“And that’s where we are right now. The five sophomores, they’re still sophomore by grade, but there’s not anybody out there that’s going take it easy on you because they feel sorry that you’re 15 or 16 years old.
“Like I told the guys in the locker room tonight, whatever the target was on our back before tonight, it just doubled,” Hamilton said.
(Above: Lexington sophomore Joe Caudill scores with 9 seconds left to give Lexington a 61-57 lead against Shelby.)
Hamilton knows his team came of age against the Whippets and Bruskotter, who is headed to play Division I college basketball at Wright State University in Dayton next season.
“I give credit to my guys. They stepped up. Having five sophomores in the rotation, maybe never seeing action like this before. I thought they stepped up and at different times came up with some big plays for me,” he said.
Hughes came off the bench to score six points for Lexington in 13 minutes on the court, including the go-ahead basket with 43 seconds left and the game tied at 57.
“We grew up big (tonight), matured a lot. We still need work on stuff (and) I think we have a lot of growing to do, but we did mature a lot in that game,” he sad
(Above: Lexington sophomore Brayden Fogle tosses the ball into the air as the buzzer sounds and the celebration begins after a 61-57 win against Shelby on Saturday night.)
Fogle has now helped lead Lexington to three straight wins against Shelby, including a buzzer-beater in the district semifinals last season. He had 21 points on 10 of 14 shooting on Saturday night and also had nine rebounds, playing nearly 30 minutes.
“This has became a big rivalry game of ours and to get this win is huge. I feel like this win, especially emphasizes like (we) might be sophomores, but we’re coming to play at our age. So it’s a big win,” he said.
“It was amazing. It was the best atmosphere we had all year by far. It was arguably one of the best I’ve ever had. And I’ve got a lot of basketball games,” Fogle said.
And perhaps he and his young classmates have a lot of big games yet to come.
Video: Shelby at Lexington highlight reel
