LEXINGTON — Dantrell Hughes has never played spoiler, but Lexington’s senior leader filled the role admirably.
Hughes scored a team-high 17 points and the Minutemen shook up the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship chase with a 69-64 upset victory over Ashland on Friday night.
The Ashland loss, coupled with Mansfield Senior’s win at Madison and New Philadelphia’s win over rival Dover, means the OCC title will be split among four schools.
The Arrows, Tygers, Quakers and Tornadoes finished with identical 10-4 OCC records.
It marks the first time in the conference’s 23-year history that four teams have shared the crown.
Lexington had won three straight OCC titles but the Minutemen found themselves out of contention this winter after a major roster shake-up. Hughes was the lone holdover from those teams.
“We’ve been though so much this year and we had all these young guys coming up,” Hughes said. “It feels really good to get this one.
“I’ve never been in a situation to spoil someone else’s season, so this feels really good to me.”
Dead-Eye
Lexington (8-12, 5-8) outscored Ashland (13-8, 10-4) 19-9 in the first quarter. The Minutemen connected on 8-of-10 field goals in the opening period.
Conversely, Ashland was 2-for-10 from the floor.
“They came out ready to play tonight and I think we were a little bit tight to get started,” Ashland coach Jason Hess said. “It seemed like we had trouble finding the range.
“We just didn’t shoot the ball well.”
Frenetic Finish
The Minutemen led 32-25 at the half and 51-45 after three quarters, but the Arrows refused to go quietly.
Ashland cut Lex’s lead to 57-56 with 4:30 remaining when Reed Emmons sank three free throws after being fouled on a triple try.
Lex responded with an 8-1 run and took a 65-57 lead on a pair of Ethan Bianchi freebies with 1:14 remaining.
Ashland cut it to 67-64 on a Gabe Baith trey with 10 seconds to play, but Hughes iced it with a pair of free throws with 7.9 seconds left.
Spread The Wealth
Hughes was one of five Minutemen to reach double figures. Bianchi dropped 13, while Elijah White, Jayden Perkins and Daniel Hudson each scored a dozen.
“That’s what I like,” said Hughes, who came in averaging a team-best 13.2 points a game. “The more (balance) … that’s how we get wins.”
Reed Emmons led Ashland with 21 points. Paxon Ediger added 18 and Gabe Baith chipped in with 13.
The rangy 6-foot-2 Hughes made life difficult for the high-scoring Ediger all evening. Ediger was 6-for-21 from the floor.
“It was a community effort,” Hughes said of the defensive effort. “I needed some blows, too, so guys like Azzi (Roper) came up and guarded him.”
New-Look Lex
The team that veteran Lexington coach Scott Hamilton put on the floor Friday looked nothing like the one he envisioned during the off-season.
Rugged forwards Brayden Fogle and Joe Caudill both graduated early to begin their college football careers. Latrell Hughes, Dantrell’s twin brother, decided to focus on indoor track, Markale Martin turned his attention to the upcoming baseball season, and Seven Allen encountered off-court issues.
“When we were in October to where we are now, the roster that we thought we were going to have and the schedule that we put together,” Hamilton said. “I had eight juniors last year so we put a (rugged) schedule together.”
Instead, Lex relied heavily on freshman Perkins, junior Daniel Hudson and sophomores Bianchi and Elijah White.
“A lot of these guys thought they were going to be playing JV this year,” Hamilton said. “They’ve really done a nice job of coming together.
“I told them in the locker room I was extremely happy for them, with just everything we’ve dealt with.”
Hess was impressed.
“Lexington is a team that has been through a lot this year and handled a lot of adversity,” Hess said. “I give them a lot of credit.
“They played like a team with nothing to lose.”
Big Picture
The loss didn’t diminish what Ashland accomplished this winter.
With 1,000-point scorers Ediger and Baith leading the charge, the Arrows won 13 games for the first time since the 2021-22 season. That was the last year Ashland won a conference crown.
“We’re extremely disappointed tonight, but this can’t take away from the whole season,” Hess said. “We have done a lot. We’ve got a lot of memorable wins and moments from this year.
“Unfortunately, it’s just kind of a bitter taste after this one.”