LEXINGTON — The Minutemen turned up the heat in the second half.
Sixth-seeded Lexington forced six second-half turnovers resulting in 11 points and rallied for a 51-42 win over No. 7 Madison in a Division III boys basketball sectional semifinal at Lexington.
Lexington (10-13) trailed 20-14 at the half only to outscore Madison (8-15) 19-8 in the third period. The catalyst was a 2-2-1 press that Lex coach Scott Hamilton didn’t show during last week’s regular season game between the Richland County rivals. Madison won the meeting 48-45.
“We didn’t want to show too much in that game last Friday,” Hamilton said. “The press was working and we turned them over a little bit.”
Third-quarter lightning
Madison led 26-21 with 2:26 remaining in the third period. Lex closed the quarter with a lightning-quick 12-2 run to take a 33-28 advantage to the fourth.
The Minutemen kept up the pressure in the fourth quarter and opened a 41-30 lead on a Dantrell Hughes layup. Madison cut it to 44-39 on a Justin McCraney 3-pointer with 1:35 left, but could draw no closer.
“We just got a little sped up,” Madison coach Davey Hipp said. “It sucks to go out that way because it’s not indicative of the way we’ve been playing against pressure.”
Balanced attack
Hughes led four Minutemen in double figures with 16 points. Ethan Bianchi backed Hughes with 12, while Daniel Hudson had 11 and Jayden Perkins added 10.
McCraney led Madison with a game-high 24 points, but no other Ram reached double digits. Camden Moysi had seven.
“He is their guy. It definitely starts with him,” Hamilton said of McCraney. “He’s a well-rounded player. We knew that he was going to get his … but we had to make sure nobody else had a career night against us.”
Learning experience
Lexington’s new-look roster played in a tournament atmosphere for the first time. Only Hughes had postseason experience.
“Two of the guys that we rely on heavily played last year in the eighth-grade tournament,” Hamilton said of freshmen Perkins and Jace Dawson. “Dantrell is the only one who has ever played tournament basketball. They’re all playing extra games right now.
“The nice thing is our group has got a lot of confidence. We have to kind of keep them in check a little bit.”
Trending up
Madison finished its second season under Hipp with eight wins after gong 4-19 last year.
“Top to bottom they play hard and they expect to win,” Hipp said. “They’re bringing winning back and it’s not me. It’s them every day in practice.
“They work their butts off and that’s the standard now.”