5 Things We Learned: Lexington Catholic 62, Scott County 49

<p>In an early season 11th Region showdown, Lexington Catholic knocked off reigning champion Scott County by 13 in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate. Both teams came out hot before the third quarter watched the game turn into a rock fight where neither team could score. Free throws were the difference late and allowed the Knights to pull away. Here are 5 things we learned from the showdown in Georgetown.</p> <p><strong>If [player_tooltip player_id="783040" first="Terrin" last="Hamilton"] struggles, Scott County struggles. </strong>After a huge start to the season, this was the first game this season where the 6’6 forward struggled. Terrin had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds but did struggle with 4/14 shooting and 6 turnovers while battling foul trouble all night. After averaging 30 points per game in the first two games of the year, Hamilton’s offensive woes really slowed the Cardinal offense as a whole.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="604116" first="Ben" last="Johnson"] continues to improve his offensive efficiency. </strong>The Junior is off to a red hot start, scoring over 25 points per game. Last night he did it while again being face guarded in the half court. Ben shot 11/21 from the field despite going only 2/7 from 3 (he did hit about a 40 footer though) and was perfect 4/4 at the line for 28 points. He also added a season high 13 rebounds and dropped 4 assists and would have had more if teammates had finished at the rim. Hovering around 50% from the field and 50% from 3, Johnson is staking his claim to being the best shooting Junior in the state.</p> <p><strong>Ryan Russell stepped up with Luke Wedding out. </strong>Wedding is a Senior leader for Lexington Catholic and a solid 2nd or 3rd scoring option but missed the game due to strep. Russell, last week’s hero in the Covington Catholic win, got the start with Wedding out and capitalized with another strong game. Russell had 11 points, 2 assists and 4 steals as he was really good in the middle of the 2-2-1 press all night long.</p> <p><strong>Catholic’s press made the difference. </strong>One of the Catholic parents repeatedly (and loudly) called for the Knights to get out of the press early. Scott County was shooting layups in the first quarter but Coach Salsman had the last laugh as the 2-2-1 press caused 21 Scott County turnovers over the course of the game and really made the difference. The Knights were able to turn those turnovers into layups for the most part as the Cardinals threw the ball all over the court.</p> <p><strong>Lack of scoring depth is an issue for Scott County. </strong>Along with [player_tooltip player_id="783040" first="Terrin" last="Hamilton"]’s struggles, starting guards <strong>Aaron Leake and Chase Grigsby </strong>combined to go 8/23 from the field. Starting forward <strong>Mikaleb Coffey </strong>was 1/2 while <strong>Elias RIchardson </strong>went 3/6. The rest of the team combined to go 0/1 from the field. So basically if the starters aren’t scoring, Scott County isn’t scoring. The school split really hurt both team’s depth this year as Great Crossing is enduring similar issues. In a year that Scott County was likely to be down anyway, the district appears to have split at the worst time.</p>