ONTARIO — No matter how big Lexington’s lead ballooned to in the second half, Scott Hamilton never felt safe.
Lex’s longtime coach knows Norwalk boss Steve Gray too well.
The Minutemen built double-figure leads in both the third and fourth quarters and held on for a 56-48 win over the Truckers in the Richland Source Challenge at Ontario’s O-Rena.
“A Steve Gray-coached team is never out of a game,” Hamilton said. “We kept telling our guys at breaks and timeouts that we’re not comfortable yet.
“They came up with a couple loose balls and get some stickbacks and we missed a few layups and all of a sudden its a one-possession game.”
The Minutemen (4-2) led 30-21 at the half and pushed their advantage to 34-21 on a Bryant Givand layup early in the third. But the Truckers (2-5) responded with an 11-1 run and cut Lex’s lead to 35-32 on an offensive rebound and putback by Brandon Haraway with 3:21 remaining in the quarter.
Lexington scored the final five points of the period and led 40-32 going to the fourth.
The Minutemen continued to add on, taking a 45-34 advantage on a Ben Vore 3-pointer with 6:57 to play, but the Truckers dragged themselves off the canvas with 10 unanswered points to trim Lexington’s margin to 45-44 at the 3:08 mark.
“I’m proud of these kids,” Gray said. “I thought we played really hard tonight. I was afraid they were going to kick our fannies on the glass, but our posts played their tails off.
“We did a lot of things well, but we had a couple of calls go against us. It’s a great learning experience.”
The Minutemen made four fewer field goals on the evening, but outscored the Truckers 22-9 at the free throw line. Lex was 22-for-27 from the stripe, while Norwalk attempted just 11 freebies, making nine.
“It wasn’t a pretty shooting night for us, but we got to the line 27 times and made 22,” Hamilton said. “That was the difference in the game for us.”
Cade Stover led Lexington with 13 points and nine rebounds. Givand had nine and Kyle Johnston added eight.
Haraway, the younger brother of Ashland University point guard Ben Haraway, had 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. Eric Hull and Jacob Roth each added eight.
“Brandon Haraway is probably the best on-ball defender that we’ve seen so far this year,” Hamilton said. “He just made us work so hard.
“This was a tough double weekend for us. We had a rivalry game at Madison on Friday and then you play a Norwalk team that just executes so well. We’re happy we were able to get a couple of wins.”
