43rd District tournament: Lafayette holds off Lexington Catholic

Lafayette punched its third straight ticket to the 11th Region tournament with a 55-48 win over No. 13 Lexington Catholic in the 43rd District Tournament semifinals on Tuesday.

The No. 18 Generals, this year’s tournament hosts, advanced to the finals where they’ll meet the winner between No. 2 Paul Laurence Dunbar and No. 23 Lexington Christian. Those teams play Wednesday night.

Harrison Lane led Lafayette with 21 points, going 5-for-8 on three-pointers to match Catholic’s three-point production (5-for-23) by himself. Lane hit three of his three-pointers in the first quarter as the Generals jumped out to a 19-7 lead and appeared ready to run away.

Catholic responded with authority, cutting the deficit to 19-14 on a successful and-one bucket by Luke Johnson 53 seconds into the second quarter. The Knights trailed by three heading into the locker room and at the end of the third quarter. They took their only lead of the game, 40-39, early in the fourth on the second of two free throws by Johnson, who finished with 14 points, three assists and four steals. On Lafayette’s next possession, Lane drilled a three-pointer about midway between the top of the key and the halfcourt stripe to put the Generals ahead 42-40.

Lane said he’d been in a bit of a cold streak and finding his groove early was significant. He was unaware that he’d swished his final one from about 30 feet away.

“Sometimes I don’t really realize where I am,” Lane said. “If I’m open or they have a hand down, I’ll just give it a shot. I was feeling it.”

Chris Wharton came up big for Lafayette, ending with 13 points, four assists and two steals. The junior whose teammates dubbed him “Slim” as a freshman — he still weighs close to 100 pounds now — said the teams were so even that ultimately the game came down to big swings. “The shot that H (Lane) took was crazy,” Wharton said. “He busted it wide open. After that shot the momentum was all on our side and we took it from there.”

Zan Payne had 14 points, 10 rebounds and five steals for Catholic. He scored 12 of his points in the final moments of the third quarter and in the fourth, shouldering the offensive weight as the Knights kept things even deep into the final period but could never regain the lead after Lane’s big shot. Lexington Cath Coach Brandon Salsman said the way Lafayette defended its top scorers — Johnson and Donnie Morris combined to go 6-for-25 — and Generals’ ability to get to the line — they shot 24 free throws to nine for the Knights — made the difference.

“They’ve got five seniors who’ve played big minutes in big games,” Salsman said. “We couldn’t probably handle the inexperience for a moment but I thought our guys grew up a lot there in the second half.”

Dunbar girls rally for semis win

Paul Laurence Dunbar’s girls overcame an 11-point deficit against Lexington Catholic in the third quarter to claim a 45-41 win and a berth in next week’s 11th Region tournament.

Autumn Herriford scored a game-high 20 points for the Bulldogs, including 13 straight in a stretch spanning the second and third quarters. Her final points came on three-pointer from the corner midway through the fourth period to tie the game at 37-all.

“The coaches needed me to attack … I felt like for a while there I was making about everything,” Herriford said with a laugh. While the young Bulldogs faced the double-digit mountain, she felt like she needed to keep the team’s spirits up. “We just really believed we could do it.”

Part of that confidence came from the team’s prior meetings this season. LexCath won 48-45 on a buzzer-beater on Jan. 16, then Dunbar came away with a 40-39 win on Feb. 2. The season-series margin? Dunbar by two.The Knights knocked Dunbar out of the tournament a year ago, which Herriford said fueled the Bulldogs on Tuesday. Things were so tight between the teams this season, a coin flip had to decide which team was the tournament’s official No. 2 seed. Dunbar won that battle, too.

“I knew looking into the eyes of some of the girls on the team, I knew that there was going to be a run,” Dunbar Coach Nick Runyon said. “ … You saw what they did. My four years of eligibility are over. They’re out there busting their butts and doing what they need to do to attain their goals.”

LexCath took command with a 9-0 spurt to open the second period, guided by five points from senior Caroline Osbourn. Herriford got Dunbar on the board with back-to-back tough baskets, the Bulldogs’ only four points in the quarter. The Knights extended their lead to 11 points in the third after Laken Pinkerman connected on an and-one free throw to make it 32-21.

Down 37-28 at the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs went on a 15-0 run capped by a layup by Anaiyah Cotton, who came down with the game’s final rebound to force a jump-ball with three seconds to go. Mashayla Cecil hit two free throws with 0.9 seconds left to ice it for Dunbar, which snapped a four-game skid.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 10:44 PM with the headline "43rd District tournament: Lafayette holds off Lexington Catholic."