Lexington freshman Brayden Fogle soars to the basket Friday night at home during a 62-41 win against West Holmes. Fogle had nine points and seven rebounds for the unbeaten Minutemen.
Lexington senior center Baden Forup shoots inside against West Holmes on Friday night. Forup led the Minutemen with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the 62-41 win.
Lexington freshman Brayden Fogle soars to the basket Friday night at home during a 62-41 win against West Holmes. Fogle had nine points and seven rebounds for the unbeaten Minutemen.
LEXINGTON -- Unbeaten Lexington defeated winless West Holmes, 62-41, on Friday night in an Ohio Cardinal Conference game.
But the Minutemen (9-0 overall, 7-0 in the OCC) weren't just competing against a Knights' team (0-10, 0-7) and program that lost its head coach on Friday.
Lexington was competing against itself, a team that played Tuesday night and one that played last week.
Bigger games lay ahead for a squad seeking to win a conference title and mount a deep post-season run. Lexington is on top of the OCC by two games, leading Mansfield Senior (7-4, 5-2) and New Philadelphia (5-3, 5-2).
"I think the discussion every day in practice or in a game is that we have to be getting better," veteran coach Scott Hamilton said.
"We try to address one game at a time, one team at a time. Obviously, when your opponent is on a different level, whether it's high or low, that creates different challenges.
"But we definitely try to say, 'OK, we've got to make sure that we're getting better. No matter who we're playing, we have to become a better basketball team,'" Hamilton said.
"Ultimately that goal is that tournament trail that at the end of the regular season. So that's really a focus of ours. We want to compete for the conference championship, but we're always getting better for the end of February," he said.
Making the task tougher for West Holmes was the fact coach Seth Martin stepped down on Friday. JV coach Tennille Cline is serving as the interim coach for the remainder of the season.
Still, Hamilton knows an unbeaten team at this point in the season is going to get the opponent's best shot, even a Knights team that Lexington knocked off 73-53 back on Dec. 2.
West Holmes slowed the game dramatically in the first half and trailed by just nine, 23-14, at the intermission.
But Lexington forced the pace in the second half, outscoring the visitors, 16-3, in the first 5:17 of the third quarter to open up a 39-17 edge.
"I think once you hit January 1st, if you have a zero in the (loss) column, you got a target on your back. Coming in tonight, we knew (West Holmes) was going to play loose," Hamilton said.
"They had some things that they were dealing with in their program. So we knew that they were going to come in with not a worry in the world and they played well," he said.
Meanwhile, pressure will only mount for Lex as the back half of the OCC unfolds and also the remaining non-league schedule that includes a road game at perennial power Ottawa-Glanford (8-2) next month.
"I think that's just something that we're going to have to use. If you want to celebrate the victories, you have got to deal with what all comes with it. I think the guys are are doing that right now, but we have got to make sure that we stay on top of them as a coaching staff," Hamilton said.
So did his team get better Friday night?
"I think you always can improve. You can always become better at things. I thought tonight we got a little bit better defensively. We were communicating a little bit. We focused on a couple of key things with two days of practice to get ready for this game. And I thought we saw it a little bit.
"We can still become better at it, but I thought we saw the guys trying to make that effort.
"When you get up by 20, you're still trying to do some things and execute some offense that you could possibly use in two weeks, three weeks or a month from now. I thought we did that," Hamilton said.
"We were able to get a lot of guys in the game and it's good to gain that experience. We had a little bit of sickness a month or so ago. We had a sprained ankle a week or so ago, which really opened our eyes that we have to make sure that we've got that depth.
"Being able to go, eight, nine or 10 guys deep is a good thing for us."
Lexington senior center Baden Forup shoots inside against West Holmes on Friday night. Forup led the Minutemen with 19 points and 10 rebounds in the 62-41 win.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Senior center Baden Forup led Lexington with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Senior Hudson Moore had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Junior Elijah Hudson had 12 points and three blocked shots and 6-4 freshman Brayden Fogle had nine points and seven rebounds.
Zander Schultz was the only West Holmes player in double figures, finishing with 17, including five of seven three-point attempts, four coming in the fourth quarter.
Lexington shot 46 percent from the field (26-56) and added eight of 11 at the foul line. West Holmes shot 30 percent from the floor (16-53) and missed its only free throw attempt.
The taller Minutemen had a 44-26 rebounding edge and committed five turnovers, compared to seven for West Holmes.
UP NEXT:Â Lexington hosts Clear Fork (4-8) on Saturday night in a non-league game, the third home game of the week for the Minutemen. West Holmes is at Indian Valley on Tuesday in a non-conference game.
City editor. 30-year plus journalist. Husband. Father of 3 grown sons and also a proud grandpa. Prior military journalist in U.S. Navy, Ohio Air National Guard. -- Favorite quote: "Where were you when the page was blank?"
