MADISON TOWNSHIP — Scott Hamilton had seen enough midway through the fourth quarter and burned a timeout.
His Lexington basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Ohio among Division II schools, led Madison by 30 points.
But the veteran coach was displeased with a lack of focus, even in a game the Minutemen ultimately went on to win, 67-38.
“I had seen it coming down the line a little bit. I knew what the score was. But at that point, I really didn’t care. I wanted to make sure that I let the guys know, ‘Listen, this is not how we’re going to play. We’ve got to make sure that, no matter what the time and the score is, we’re taking care of the ball,'” Hamilton said.
With a team now 16-1 overall and 10-0 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference, Hamilton saw it as a teaching moment for a team that starts three sophomores and has two more coming off the bench.
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“It was just a way to remind them, ‘Hey, we’ve got to play good defense and we’ve got to make sure that we’re valuing every possession.’ Not just the first one or the last one, but everyone in between. I just wanted to remind the guys at that point,” he said.
The issue between the two cross-county rivals was decided early at Madison Junior High School. Lexington led 24-4 after one quarter and 38-12 at halftime, shooting 65 percent from the field (17 of 26) and holding a 21-12 rebounding edge at the break.
(Below is a PDF file with the complete box score from the Lexington-Madison basketball game on Tuesday evening.)
But the Rams (1-13, 1-8) battled throughout the second half, being outscored just 29-26 in the final 16 minutes.
‘We’ve still got a lot of things to learn’
For a Lexington team closing in on an OCC title and with big tournament hopes ahead, Hamilton said focus is a must.
“Every possession matters. A couple of times in the huddle I told the guys, ‘We have got to play like we are down 10.’
“The energy level was really good to start the game. (But) I thought we started taking some, quick shots. Not bad shots. Shots we can hit, but they were just quick in the half-court (offense). We didn’t have guys in position to rebound.
“My guys are still, even where we’re at in the season, they’re still learning (the importance) of having rebounders in position, coming off of a ball screen and (shooting) in rhythm. They’re just saying, ‘I can make this shot from right here.’ Yeah, but there’s different scenarios that lead up to that shot. So we’re still working on that.
“We’ve still got a very young team and we’ve still got a lot of things to learn. And so I can’t quit coaching these guys, no matter if we’re up 30 or down 30,” Hamilton said.
‘You’ve got to manufacture some belief’
Madison coach Chris Armstrong, whose team lost just 60-49 at Lexington on Dec. 15, said his Rams just have to keep battling — and regain some faith after 11 losses in a row. Five of those defeats have been by single digits.
“It’s so tough. This is a great group of kids, a really good group. The guys are hurting a little bit right now. You’ve got to manufacture some belief. It’s been a while since you’ve won a game (Dec. 8). So we’ve got to get back to our core values.
“We say we’re about effort and being unselfish. We see it in spurts, but it’s not there consistently right now. So often other coaches have said, ‘Man, you’ve been right there with such and such.’
“At times, we’ve played really good basketball. There are times where we’ve just got to fight a heck of a lot harder. We talked during the summer about who we’ve got to be, the identity we have to have,” Armstrong said.
“We don’t have that 6-8 guy who’s gonna just gobble up 12 boards. It’s going to have to be a collective … all five guys just scraping and fighting for everything. We’ve lost a little bit of that fight.
“I think when you go through a tough stretch, you lose a little bit of belief, a little bit of confidence. One win and you can breathe again and kind of get back to being who you are. But we’ve got to manufacture that. Nobody’s going to give it to us,” Armstrong said.
Statistically speaking:
Lexington had three players in double figure, led by 6-8 senior Elijah Hudson with 16. Sophomores Brayden Fogle and Seven Allen each had 12.
Junior Owen Wigton led Madison with 11 points. Senior Will Kepple finished with 10.
Lexington shot 55 percent (27/49) from the field, including five of 16 from behind the three-point arc. Madison connected on 33 percent (17/51) and the Rams hit four of 26 three-point attempts.
The Minutemen were eight of 14 from the line. Madison didn’t attempt a foul shot.
Lexington had a 34-26 rebounding edge, led by six from sophomore Joe Caudill and five by Fogle. Sophomore Kaleb Gordon led Madison with seven.
The Minutemen had 16 assists and 10 turnovers. The Rams had six assists and 13 turnovers.
Up next:
Lexington hosts Ashland on Friday night in another OCC game. Madison is at New Philadelphia that night in a league encounter.