LEXINGTON — The best big man in the Ohio Cardinal Conference last season was injured and sitting on the bench Friday night for Lexington.
But oh my, the Minutemen have a flock of smaller guys capable of wreaking havoc.
Lexington, with a lineup that often featured four guards, pressured and forced a young West Holmes team into 28 turnovers in a 72-44 victory as the Minutemen began their defense of an outright OCC title they won a year ago.
Key to the win was junior point guard Seven Allen, who scored 22 points (18 in the first half) after opening the season a week ago with 24 in a win at Clear Fork.
But he wasn’t alone. Eight different Minutemen recorded steals and eight players scored, including 6-foot-5 junior forward Joe Caudill, who finished with 10 points, five steals and four assists against a Knights team that started four sophomores.
That pressure defense, which triggered 35 points off turnovers, is likely the way Lexington (2-0, 1-0) will have to play for several weeks.
At least until 6-5 junior Brayden Fogle — the OCC Player of Year as a sophomore after averaging 14 points and eight rebounds — returns from a broken wrist suffered Nov. 15 in a football playoff loss to Toledo Central Catholic.
His absence, and a few other football players still working into basketball shape after a three-week playoff run, forced some adjustments on coach Scott Hamilton, whose team returns four starters and seven lettermen from last year’s 22-3 district runner-up team.
“There’s no question about it. We want that to be a way we can play (without Fogle) and as we get the football guys back into basketball shape. I think we’ve got the athletes and the guards that we can (do it),” said Hamilton, the winningest coach in Lexington history.
(Photos from Lexington’s 72-44 win at home against West Holmes on Friday night in an Ohio Cardinal Conference basketball game. The story continues below the photos.)
Hamilton told his team other people would need to step up while Fogle is out, likely until in January. The Minutemen will play nine games by the end of December, which means opportunities abound.
“About two weeks ago in practice, I told guys that I have got to find a replacement for about 25 minutes a game. ‘Who wants it? Who wants to work for it? Who is it going to be?’
“I think we’ve had a couple of guys step up and show that they do. We’ve got a couple of guys that have really been guards who are trying to play a little bit bigger to take up some of that spot,” Hamilton said.
He cited 6-2 junior Dontrell Hughes and 6-0 junior Markale Martin as those working inside to help fill the void with size and quickness.
In the win Friday, Lexington got nine points each from senior guards Jakob Legron and Gavin Husty.
“It’s definitely a work in progress,” said Hamilton, who recorded his 200th win at Lexington last season. “We’re trying to take advantage of what we have right now and then working on the rest of it.
“I think we do have guards who play. Obviously losing a guy like Fogel, you don’t just keep going with the status quo.”
Allen, a first-team all-OCC selection as a sophomore, connected on 10 of 16 shots Friday night against West Holmes (0-2, 0-1) and has made 20-of-36 field goal attempts in the first two games, including 5-of-11 3-point efforts.
“He’s put a lot of time in during the off-season,” Hamilton said of the speedy, 5-10 Allen, also an All-Northwest District football player this fall. “He has worked really hard to be that shooter, to be more confident in shooting the ball.
“I think he still takes a lot of pride in being able to distribute and getting the ball out and going a little bit,” the coach said.
Allen and his teammates will have another opportunity on Saturday afternoon when the Minutemen travel to Dover (1-1) in a non-league game. The Tornadoes fell to Berlin Hiland on Friday night, 43-31.
Sophomore Nate Sprang led West Holmes with 16 points, including 3-of-4 triple attempts. Junior Manny Camacho, a 6-7 center who is headed to Kent State on a baseball scholarship as a pitcher, added 11 for the Knights.