High school basketball highlights: Lexington Christian tops Trinity in final seconds

Lexington Christian 52, Trinity 50: A big-time shot from Kyle Rode in the final seconds gave visiting Lexington Christian a marquee win heading into the postseason.

With 20 seconds to play, Rode drained a mid-range jumper to give the Eagles, 10th in Dave Cantrall’s Rating the State, the lead.

Austin Hall closed the game out with great defense, tightly contesting Trinity’s last-second shot in the paint and denying the No. 4 Shamrocks a win at the buzzer.

Rode finished with 16 points on 8-for-13 shooting and had six rebounds and four assists. Carter Hendrickson led the Eagles with 19 points, going seven of 13 from the field and grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

Jay Scrubb and Justin Powell led Trinity with 12 points each.

Lexington Christian, which shot 48 percent, will host the 43rd District tournament beginning next Tuesday. The Eagles face Lexington Catholic in the first round. The Knights won both of their games against LCA in the regular season, but this time they’ll take on the Eagles without star Zan Payne, who was lost for the season because of an injury in the teams’ Feb. 9 matchup.

Henry Clay 58, Taylor County 37: The Blue Devils got points from 11 different players, including Keaston Brown’s team-high 11, as Henry Clay finished off the regular season with its third straight win. Jalen Williams added nine points, five rebounds and two steals in the win. Marquez Warrick, Harris Hawkins and Marquis Mackey each scored seven. TreVon Smith scored 23 points on 9-for-22 shooting for Taylor County, which committed 15 turnovers.

Wayne County 66, Lexington Catholic 61: Four Cardinals hit double figures in scoring as Wayne County edged the visiting Knights on Friday. Kameron Gehring, Stetson Simpson and Jakson Baker scored 14 points apiece and Aubrey Weaver added 11 points and nine rebounds in the win.

Keegan Bailey did his best to will Catholic to a win, scoring 25 points on 8-for-16 field-goal shooting. Ben Johnson pitched in 11 points in the loss. TC Price added seven points and seven assists.

Scott County 94, Paul Dunbar 60: Cooper Robb poured in a game-high 26 points and Michael Moreno added 25 as the host Cardinals, ranked third in the latest Cantrall rankings, finished off the regular season without losing to an in-state team. Their only loss of the year came on Dec. 26 against Cincinnati Moeller. Robb and Moreno also pulled down seven boards apiece as Scott County outrebounded the Bulldogs 38-25 and outscored them in the paint 56-20. The Cardinals shot 55 percent from the field.

JaQuice Gray scored a team-high 15 points for Dunbar, which lost for the first time in six games. Tre Homer had 12 points and Robby Kinnard added 10 in the loss. The Bulldogs face Tates Creek in the first round of the 43rd District Tournament at Lexington Christian on Monday.

Lafayette 73, Frederick Douglass 68: Devontae Hayes was in the zone, scoring 25 points on 12-for-15 field-goal shooting to help the visiting Generals rebound from back-to-back losses. Eric Powell and Evan Dreux added 12 points each.

Justin Mitchell scored a team-high 16 points and DaShawn Jackson added 13 for the Broncos, who’ll host the 42nd District tournament beginning Monday.

Girls’ games

Lexington Christian 54, Madison Southern 51 (OT): With the game tied 51-51 in overtime, Emile Teall hit a layup off an assist from Jaylin McClanahan with five seconds left and sank a free throw to complete the three-point play, and the Eagles snapped a five-game losing streak.

Grace Combs led LCA with 17 points and seven rebounds. Bethany Selby added 14 points and seven boards. Teall finished with six points and McClanahan dished out a game-high eight assists for the Eagles, who’ll host the 43rd District tournament beginning Monday.

Aleigh Richardson led Madison Southern with 13 points.

Sacred Heart 78, Bullitt East 52: Miss Basketball finalist Grace Berger was once again brilliant, scoring 20 points on 10-for-14 field-goal shooting and pulling down nine rebounds to lead the No. 1 Valkyries to their 11th straight win. Kiki Samsel also scored 20 points for Sacred Heart, which shot 48 percent from the floor and outscored the Chargers 22-9 in the first quarter.

Franklin County 55, Mason County 53: Julia Welsh scored a game-high 15 points , knocking down five of seven three-pointers, as the Flyers edged the host Royals. Patience Laster added 12 points and seven rebounds for Franklin County, which trailed 35-29 at the half but outscored Mason County 16-7 in the third quarter.

Kara Moran had a team-high 12 points in the loss.

READ JOSH MOORE’S RECAP OF FRIDAY’S MATCHUP BETWEEN THE STATE’S TOP TWO TEAMS HERE.

This story was originally published February 16, 2018 at 11:01 PM with the headline "High school basketball highlights: Lexington Christian tops Trinity in final seconds."