A few passing clouds. Low 26F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
A few passing clouds. Low 26F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Updated: December 4, 2022 @ 4:56 pm
Lexington freshman Brayden Fogle soars with a dunk on Saturday evening in the opening seconds of an 80-40 win at home against Clyde.
Lexington senior Hudson Moore takes aim with a free throw on Saturday evening. He finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Lexington Baden Forup tosses down a dunk Saturday evening against Clyde. He finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Lexington freshman Brayden Fogle soars with a dunk on Saturday evening in the opening seconds of an 80-40 win at home against Clyde.
LEXINGTON — Brayden Fogle christened the new Lexington High School gymnasium with a resounding dunk just three seconds into the game.
You could say it was a tone setter Saturday night.
The Minutemen simply rolled the Clyde Fliers in a non-league boys’ basketball game, 80-40, their second win in as many nights to start the new season.
Taller and stronger at every position, Lexington overpowered a Clyde team that got a late start to the season due to two postseason football games.
A mixture of experience and youth keyed the win.
Senior Hudson Moore had 23 points, 12 rebounds and two assists. Fogle, a 6-foot-4 freshman, had 22 points on 11-of-15 shooting, six rebounds and two assists. Senior Baden Forup had 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots, one night after scoring 24 against West Holmes.
Combined with a 20-point win at West Holmes on Friday night, the Minutemen are off to the kind of fast start expected by veteran coach Scott Hamilton. But he reminded his team after the game no league titles are awarded in early December.
Lexington senior Hudson Moore takes aim with a free throw on Saturday evening. He finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
“We’re not that good. We’re really not. We played well in two games, but that’s it. There’s 20 regular-season games left, and then there’s whatever tournament we’ve got. So we’re not world beaters right now.
“We’re not where we want be to come February,” said Hamilton, who was honored before the game for becoming the all-time wins leader in school basketball history, a mark he broke during last year’s tournament.
“We’ve got to keep coming to work every Monday through Thursday to get ready for games. (I told the players) don’t believe what you hear in the community and all that stuff,” said Hamilton, now 162-84 in his 11th year.
“We’ve got a great fan base, a lot of good support, as you saw tonight in the stands. But the excitement … we have to keep it in check in our locker room and on the practice floor. We’ve got to keep that in check and make sure that we stay with our goals and what we want to do this year. We can’t rest on just a two-win season,” he said.
Lexington Baden Forup tosses down a dunk Saturday evening against Clyde. He finished with 14 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Lexington’s home opener was delayed a week while finishing touches were applied to the new gym. For the Minutemen faithful, it was worth the wait as the Minutemen shot 57 percent from the field (34-of-60) and had a commanding 44-29 edge in rebounding.
Lexington scored 30 points off 20 Clyde turnovers and had a 58-18 edge in points from the paint against a Fliers’ team whose tallest player was a 6-3 sophomore.
The Minutemen led 24-13 after the first quarter and took a 43-25 edge into halftime before outscoring the visitors 18-7 in the third and 19-8 in the fourth.
During Hamilton’s tenure at Lexington, the Minutemen have relied on defense. Scoring 153 points on the opening weekend sets a different tone, but the coach isn’t ready to open the throttle completely just yet.
“I think every team in my 11 years has wanted to get our and run. And then after about the first quarter and a half, everybody’s dead. Nobody’s playing defense … so it’s a commitment to be a good transition team getting up and down the floor.
“We knew with this team that we could do it at times … that we could get up and down the floor. Compared to last year and the year before, we’ve got some guys that can knock down some perimeter shots. We’ve got a little bit more strength with our ball handling,” Hamilton said.
“We do have some athletes we can get up and down and run. I thought tonight we kind of relied on it a little bit too much at times. And it got sloppy. Then to me, it’s just bad basketball. We want to be able to run, we want to get up and down if we can, if it’s good. But then if they take it away, if they get back on defense, let’s get something (in a set offense),” he said.
Winning the first game in the new gym did bring a smile to Hamilton’s face.
“The summer that we went through and going through the new construction and then having things be delayed … it was really nice to be able to walk in there tonight.
“We really didn’t have a home practice court until Monday of this week. We were bouncing around to other gyms and so it was really nice this week to get in there knowing that it was ours.
“That was one of the things that we talked about in practice is like, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do some things to make this our gym. We’ve got to win some things,'” Hamilton said.
“It is nice to get that first win in a brand-new gym. I thought we had a nice crowd here tonight and that’s why I wanted it to be kind of special and see some of the things that we did tonight.
“If nothing else, we celebrate this win, but it does show that come Monday, we’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve still got some things to improve on,” Hamilton said.
Up next: Lexington hosts Ashland on Friday night in an Ohio Cardinal 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?”
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Sorry, an error occurred.
We send the biggest breaking news stories directly to you.
Read Richland Source’s latest headlines every morning.
Highlights for the coming weekend, delivered 1x / week.
Explore the history of Richland County, Ohio. Recounted with articles, photographs, original art, and video. Email delivered on the 15th of each month.
Get all the latest headlines from Ashland County.
Headlines from Crawford County, delivered 1x / week.
Delivered monthly with the latest Richland County property transfers, small business news and more.
Start your week off with local inspiration, recipes, wellness advice and more. Get the thrive newsletter in your inbox every Monday.
See all the latest local job openings, delivered 1x / week.
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Invalid password or account does not exist
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
Secure & Encrypted
Secure transaction. Cancel anytime.
Thank you.
Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
A receipt was sent to your email.
