LEXINGTON — Lexington’s Brayden Fogle wants the ball in his hands at crunch time.
Heck, the 6-5 sophomore was even dribbling a ball during a post-game interview Friday night.
Then again, Fogle was likely still burning off steam after a frenetic fourth quarter against New Philadelphia that saw the Minutemen earn at least a share of the Ohio Cardinal Conference basketball title with a 57-47 win.
You can emphasize the word “earned” against New Philadelphia, which held the Minutemen (18-1, 12-0) to six points in the third quarter and took a 37-36 lead going into the fourth.
Fittingly, it was the three starting sophomores for Lexington that helped the Minutemen outscore the Quakers (10-7, 7-5), 21-10, in the final eight minutes.
Fogle, 6-4 forward Joe Caudill and 5-9 point guard Seven Allen combined for 19 points, five rebounds and four assists in the final eight minutes to earn their second straight league title, eighth OCC title and 27th league crown overall in the program’s history.
“We showed our resilience at the end and pulled it out by 10 versus a very good team,” said Fogle, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and two assists.
“Me and Joe just looked at each other and said, ‘We gotta go.’ And Seven, we ran some plays with me and Seven on the ball-screen action. We were converting. Joe was stepping up big, getting on the boards, some putbacks, everything we needed, and we pulled it out,” Fogle said.
Caudill, who had 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists, admitted New Philadelphia is a tough match. The Minutemen won by just eight at NP earlier this season (50-42).
“They’re very fundamental in what they do. And they’re good at what they do. They hit a lot of shots and they’re physical,” Caudill said.
“We were down one and we knew we had to make some plays. We knew we could do it. We have it in us to do it and we just went out and did it,” Caudill said.
The Minutemen can clinch an outright league title with a win at either West Holmes or Mount Vernon in the next two weeks.
For Fogle, the win against the Quakers, who connected on 11 of 23 triples in the game, shows a solo crown is possible this season.
“It definitely shows our full potential, especially after last year. We couldn’t even pull it off. But I think that it’s something that we earned over the course of the season and I definitely think it’s supposed to happen,” he said.
Caudill said the OCC title is just the first goal for the state’s third-ranked Division II team.
“We know we have bigger goals, but this was the goal that we shot for in the beginning of the year. We knew we could accomplish with what we have and it’s good to get it done,” he said.
It was a satisfying win for Lexington coach Scott Hamilton, now 198-90 in his 12th season at Lexington, already the longest-tenured and winningest coach in the school’s history.
“You know (New Philadelphia) is going to be a well-coached team. They’re very disciplined in what they do and we knew it was gonna be a battle. There’s no question about it,” Hamilton said.
“The run their stuff very well. They’ve got one or two guys that they really rely on and they execute their stuff to get those guys wide-open looks. They play at such a pace that if they get that open shot and they can turn and square up, it’s a very high percentage shot for them.
“So if you’re locking and trailing, by the time you come off that third moving screen, it’s a little tough to be right there on the catch,” he said.
“When we played down there, it was a lot like this. Every possession mattered. We went on a couple of runs, they answered them with some big shots,” Hamilton said.
“(An OCC title) was our first goal. It’s always something we want to compete for. We knew that if we won tonight, we were going to at least get a share of it. Now the (post-game) comments in the locker room were, ‘Now we got to go make sure we win it by ourselves.’ We want to make sure we don’t share it with anybody else,” Hamilton said.
Statistically speaking
Senior Elijah Hudson added 10 points for Lexington and Allen finished with eight.
Colton Slaughter led New Philadelphia with 19 points, including five of nine triples. Owen Miller added 14, hitting four of nine treys.
Lexington shot 68 percent from the field (23/34), but just 50 percent (8/16) at the line. The Quakers hit 41 percent from the floor (18/44), but never attempted a free throw.
The Minutemen had 24-19 edge in rebounding, led by Fogle and Caudill. Owen Schoelles led New Philadephia with five.
Both teams had 13 assists and nine turnovers. Allen led Lexington with five assists while Reid Wells and Miller each had four for the Quakers.
Up next
Lexington is at West Holmes (2-13, 0-11) next Friday night. The Knights battled Mansfield Senior on Friday night down to the wire before falling, 65-60.
New Philadelphia hosts Steubenville on Wednesday night in a non-league game.
