Lexington learns another lesson in 50-28 win against Madison in boys’ hoops

LEXINGTON — Winter break is in full swing for Lexington High School. But class remains in session for coach Scott Hamilton’s Minutemen basketball team.

Another test was passed Friday night at home as Lexington overcame a slow start and 16 turnovers to win its fifth straight, 50-28, against Madison in an Ohio Cardinal Conference game.

The victory, sparked by 60 percent shooting from the floor and an overwhelming 43-14 rebounding edge, improves Lexington to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in the OCC. Madison slipped to 2-6, 1-2.

Scott Hamilton lost all five starters from last year’s 18-6 OCC championship team, including All-Ohioan Cade Stover, a four-year starter at LHS who is now playing football at Ohio State.

“I knew we had a lot of learning to do. And I knew we either had to do it quick or we were going to struggle through the beginning of the season.” Hamilton said.

“I have a lot of faith and confidence in where we can be. Luckily for us, I told the guys no one cares how good you are in December. It all comes down to the end of January and February and beyond,” said Hamilton, now 135-53 in his seventh season as the head coach.

FAST START: Madison, which battled a noticeable height disadvantage against Lexington jumped out to a 5-0 and trailed just 10-8 after one quarter.

But the three-point shot was not falling and the Rams were outscored 40-20 the rest of the way. Madison connected on just two of 26 triple attempts, including 0-11 in the second half.

Lexington connected on 21 of 35 from the field and tried just eight treys, hitting two of them. The Minutemen outscored the Rams in the paint, 28-14.

“We’re not gonna grow to be 6-6, that’s for sure,” Madison coach Tim Mergel said of the outside attack. “We’re at a disadvantage because we’re out-sized at every position.

“I thought we got really good looks tonight. We just didn’t make them. We are fine defensively. We fought. The bottom line is we didn’t make open looks.

“When we give up (50) points, we have to win. We have to make some shots and we will. Last Friday, we had some similar shots and knocked them down and we beat a tough (Columbus) Watterson team. It didn’t happen tonight,” Mergel said.

TURNOVERS: The negative for Lexington was again turnovers, which worked to negate the rebounding edge.

“That’s really the coaching point all season,” Hamilton said. “We have not been a team to really take care of the ball. We have been able to shoot the fairly well at times. We have games of 20, 18, 17 and 19 turnovers. We’re working on it,” he said.

“Every minute we are on the floor, we are gaining experience,” Hamilton said.

Battling on the boards is a constant mantra from Mergel.

“We’re gonna have to deal with it. We’re gonna fight. We’re finding bodies better. We can ball pressure all day, we can say what what we want, but when I got 5-8 going against 6-7, we’re not gonna rebound. I don’t know who is,” he said.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Senior 6-4 forward Max Waldruff led Lexington with 12 points and 15 rebounds, the only Lexington player in double figures in either category. Senior guard Danny Shaffer added eight as did senior guard Dylan Spears.

Sophomore guard Levi Zehner led Madison with nine points. Senior guard Jayondrae Jones aded six points and also led the Rams with six rebounds.

Madison shot 26 percent from the field, including 10 of 21 traditional two-point tries. The Rams were two of seven at the line.

Lexington connected on 21 of 35 FG attempts, including 19 of 27 two-point tries. The Minutemen were six of 11 from the line.

UP NEXT: Madison hosts Clear Fork in a non-league game Saturday afternoon. Lexington travels to play at Colonel Crawford on Saturday evening.