Saxton Howard helps fire Lexington Christian’s postseason hopes with win over Tates Creek
With a losing record overall and in the boys 43rd District, Lexington Christian entered February with its back to the wall and only three weeks to fight its way forward.
The battle to improve its district tournament seeding took a huge step Tuesday as senior point guard Saxton Howard scored 27 points to lead the Eagles to a 62-47 win over district rival Tates Creek.
“We really needed one,” said Howard, a 5-foot-11 senior guard who also quarterbacked LCA’s football team to district and region titles last season. “We know how good we are as a team, and we just go out there each and every practice and we get better. … I’m just really proud of my guys. They fought their tails off tonight.”
LCA (10-12, 2-3) can blame illness and injury for some of its woes. Senior guard Andrew Maggard missed seven games with an ankle injury and only returned to action last week. Howard missed the Lafayette game on Jan. 21 to rest a sore ankle, as well. The Generals took advantage by thumping LCA 78-34.
“It’s just been an up and down thing, but these guys have worked hard all year and have stayed together,” LCA coach Ted Hall said. “We’ve said all along, we feel like we can continue to improve and be at our best in February. It’s just trying to find consistency.”
Howard has provided the spark. After his rest against Lafayette, he returned to score a career-high 53 points at Meade County two nights later. The 5-11 guard averages 25.8 points per game.
“We’ve got some great players on the team. But I know Coach counts on me for a lot this year in a leadership position and doing a lot on the court,” Howard said. “I’m just surrounded by good people, so I’m just thankful for them.”
Against Tates Creek on Tuesday, Howard’s running 3-pointer before the halftime horn cut the Eagles’ deficit to 26-25 when it looked like the Commodores were going to go into the locker room filled with momentum from Stephen Franklin’s back-to-back 3-pointers only moments before.
Howard closed the third quarter with another 3-pointer and a layup in the final minute to cap a 14-7 Eagles run that put LCA up 50-43 going into the fourth quarter.
LCA then ran off 10 points unanswered in the final frame capped by Howard’s layup and foul shot that gave the Eagles their largest lead, 60-43 with 3:27 to play. Eagles forward Colt Cummins contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds. Maggard added eight points. Franklin led Tates Creek (10-12, 2-4) with 18 points.
On the football field, Howard had to succeed Cutter Boley, one of the top high school football quarterback recruits in the nation who continued his career at the University of Kentucky. Howard didn’t sling it around the field like Boley, but he proved to be a capable dual-threat quarterback with more than 2,400 total yards and 33 touchdowns rushing and passing combined. And the Eagles went deeper into the playoffs under Howard last season than they did Boley’s senior year.
“He’s a fiery competitor,” Hall said. “I’ve known him since he was a young kid, and I think if I’d have told him when he was in the fourth grade, ‘Hey, we’re putting you in a varsity game tonight,’ he’d have said, ‘All right, I’ll be there. Just give me a jersey.’ He’s never going to back down. You’ve seen it on a football field, and you see it out here. He’s always going to compete.”
All three of LCA’s remaining district games lie ahead in a row over the next week — at home Friday against Dunbar (2-19, 0-6), at home Feb. 11 against Lafayette (9-13, 4-2) , and at Lexington Catholic (14-9, 7-0) on Feb. 14. The Eagles probably need to win at least two of them to avoid the play-in game as a No. 4 or 5 seed in the district tournament. A sweep would be better.
Howard indicated the road forward is pretty simple.
“We’re just going to keep improving,” he said. “Coach has a great plan for us, and we’re going to stack these wins and we’re going to come ready to go by tournament time.”
Tates Creek girls lock up district semis berth
Tates Creek assured itself of a 43rd District semifinals berth with a 49-33 win over visiting Lexington Christian on Tuesday.
The Commodores (10-10, 4-4) got a game-high 19 points from Kaleigh Potts as Miracle Mobley and Alyiah Baird contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Tates Creek’s defense limited LCA to 20 percent shooting from the field, including a 7-for-32 mark from the 3-point line. LCA made only four baskets in the first half, all 3-pointers. Tates Creek outscored the Eagles 17-3 in the second quarter to take control of the game. Chapel Brown led LCA (19-6, 3-3) with 15 points.
The Eagles can still assure themselves a No. 2 district seed behind Lafayette (19-4, 8-0) with wins over Paul Laurence Dunbar (11-12, 2-5) and Lexington Catholic (7-15, 1-6) over the next two Fridays.
