LEXINGTON — Cade Stover has come a long way from the young man who thought he might play JV basketball as a freshman.
By the time he’s done, the muscular, 6-foot-5 junior and Division I football recruit may stand alone in the storied history of Lexington High School basketball.
Stover was honored before Friday’s home game against Madison for scoring his 1,000th career point last Saturday at Colonel Crawford.
He celebrated by scoring 22 more in a 56-48 win against Madison, including 10 in the fourth quarter as the Minutemen held off a Rams’ rally to beat their cross-county, Ohio Cardinal Conference rival for the second time this season.
“It was a grind the whole game,” Stover said. “OCC games are always going to be tough … come down to the wire. We did what we had to do to win.”
Stover just smiled when asked if he thought 1,000 points was possible when his career began at LHS.
“They told me I might be JV (my freshman year). I ended up starting varsity. I am just kinda finding my role and going with it,” Stover said.
The 11th member of the 1,000-point club at LHS is now just about 300 points away from passing all-time Lexington scoring leader Dale Ford with at least eight games left this season and his entire senior year in front of him.
“Stover was big inside for them tonight … he was a handful,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said.
TRIPLE TRIPLES: Even with Stover’s inside heroics in the fourth, it was three triples by junior guard Ben Vore to start the third quarter that set the stage for Lexington (11-4, 5-2).
Leading 22-15 at halftime, Vore’s triples in the first 2:13 of the third period, along with a basket by Stover, put Lexington ahead 33-18. Moments later, Vore headed to the bench with his third foul.
“Extremely (hard to take Vore out),” Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said about taking the 6-2 guard off the floor. “Ben is kind of a rhythm shooter. Once he gets in that zone, he is feeling it. He can throw it up behind his back, over his head and there is a good chance it’s going in. Those (triples) were huge for us, no doubt.
“You have got two teams, two (head) coaches that are very competitive. The rivalry is there. We get up for each other.”
Madison (8-7, 3-6) was slowed by foul troubles that included senior scoring leader Kyle Jackson (six points). Still, the Rams stormed back when Vore went out. Madison rolled off an 11-2 run that cut the lead to 35-31 with 1:30 left in the third quarter.
“It’s a testament to our guys that we fought and scrapped,” Mergel said. “It was a fun game to be a part of.
“(Due to foul problems), we had some lineups out there that I don’t know if I ever recreated them in practice. As a coach, I was trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Our guys played extremely hard.”
At one point, 5-9 senior guard Cal Rickert was defending Stover in the post.
“Cal is not backing down. Cal is a fighter. He scraps. He does a lot inside the lines people don’t understand,” Merger said. “Playing defense on a 6-5 kid who is a Division I football recruit is one of the things he strives for. That’s his fuel.”
In addition to his scoring, Stover was tasked with stopping the 6-6 Jackson on the other end.
“One of the things Cade is really getting good at is knowing when to attempt the block and when to stay on the floor. With Kyle’s length, he knew there was a good chance he was going to get called for the foul.
“So he stayed on the ground, bodied him up and tried not to let him in there. Cade has the ability to hold (Jackson) and keep him out and make that shot a little bit tougher over the top of him,” Hamilton said.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Stover led all scorers with his 22 points. Vore finished with 15 and senior guard Bryant Givand added seven.
The win, coupled with Mansfield Senior’s home loss Friday to Mount Vernon, left all three teams tied atop the OCC standings with two league losses each.
Senior Jaycob Stone led Madison with 14 points. Senior Mason Campbell added 12 points.
“Mason started off a little tentative,” Mergel said. “I told him we have got to be aggressive in this game. It’s a testament to him that he put his head down and it was go time.”
Lexington plays again tonight when the Minutemen host Shelby in a non-league game. Madison is idle until next Saturday when the Rams host Willard in a non-league game.
