‘You’ll take it by 20 or by one.’ Defending All ‘A’ champs turn back upset bid.
Coming to the All “A” Classic state tournament has become as second nature to Lexington Christian Academy as breathing.
LCA this season qualified for its sixth straight appearance and 15th in the last 16 years. The only other boys’ program near the latter mark is University Heights Academy, which is in the field for the seventh straight time and has played in 14 statewide events over the same period.
This year’s tournament was the first the Eagles entered as a defending champ. They took a swing from Owensboro Catholic on Thursday, but ultimately prevailed, 56-48, in the first round to set up a meeting with Mayfield in the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. Friday at Eastern Kentucky University’s McBrayer Arena.
Lexington Christian jumped out to a 14-4 lead after one quarter and held a 26-18 advantage at halftime. Third-quarter dips have plagued the Eagles all season and did again Thursday: the Aces pulled within three points on three occasions in the period and had the game within two possessions, 40-34, heading into the final quarter. The six-point margin was as close as Catholic got; LCA rebuilt a double-digit advantage with under three minutes to play and the Aces couldn’t rally.
“I think we got (the lead) up to 15 and then had five straight turnovers. That was a difference in the game,” LCA Coach Nate Valentine said. “They’re a really good team, they’ve got great guard play and obviously Coach (Tim) Riley is a Hall of Fame guy who does a tremendous job. We were just fortunate to get out of here with a win in a 10 o’clock game that you’re not used to playing. You’ll take it by 20 or by one.”
Kyle Rode turned in the most impressive performance of the opening day’s morning session. The Liberty University signee scored 30 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had one steal. His assist-to-turnover ratio was less beneficial to his team than usual — one assist to three giveaways — but was the only blemish. He connected on 10 of 16 field-goal attempts; the rest of the Eagles went 9-for-18.
Rode, a possible Mr. Basketball finalist who recently became LCA’s all-time leading scorer, is the only remaining holdover of a literal “Big Three” that led LCA to its All “A” Classic title and a trip to the 11th Region championship game last year. Valentine said he’s sure that other teams are extra motivated to knock out the Eagles this season because of last season’s accomplishments.
“We haven’t really talked about being the defending champs ‘cause that was a completely different team for us,” said Valentine. “We had two 6-7 guys and now we’ve replaced those guys with two 5-8 guys.”
John Parker led Owensboro Catholic with 21 points, six rebounds and two steals. Will Hacker was 5-for-7 overall for LCA, and 4-for-5 from behind the three-point stripe to finish with 14 points to go along with three steals.
“I think that’s been the most fun thing about getting to coach these guys, is that it’s been a different guy almost every game,” Valentine said. “If Kyle’s off a little bit somebody else will step up, whether it’s offense, defense, whether it shows up on the stat sheet, we get a lot of production from a lot of different guys.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 2:13 PM.