‘Stay in your lane, bro.’ After historic upset, region’s only ranked team keeping it simple.
Kentucky’s high school district tournaments so often feel like little more than coronations for the top seeds who typically plow through the already tilled soil of their geographically bound competition.
But when one of the most shocking upsets in recent memory happens as it did when No. 64 Frederick Douglass ousted No. 3 Henry Clay in the 42nd on Tuesday, it can make teams who felt secure a bit shaky.
And when two more top-seeded district teams also go down the same night — Bourbon County in the 40th and DeSales in the 22nd — well, that doesn’t sound like the kind of fun you were planning at all.
“’Stay in your lane, bro, is what we’re saying.’ You can’t have your eyes on a bigger prize. You’ve got to play the game (in front of you) at the time,” said Lexington Catholic Coach Brandon Salsman, whose No. 4 Knights pulled away from Paul Laurence Dunbar in the second half for an 81-54 win in the 43rd District semifinals Wednesday at Tates Creek High School. “With all the upsets in the state last night, I think we learned real quick that you’ve just got to put one foot in front of the other and focus on what you’re doing in that day.”
Lexington Catholic, now the 11th Region’s only surviving top 25-rated team, according to the latest Dave Cantrall’s Rating the State, will face Tates Creek in Friday’s district finals at 8 p.m. Both teams advance to next week’s 11th Region Tournament. It’s the Knights’ first district finals since 2017 and Tates Creek’s first trip there since 2011. And the Commodores host.
“Those district championship games are a lot of fun to play in,” Salsman said. “You know you’re going to advance no matter what, but there are other things on the line that you have to be ready for. I would expect an incredible atmosphere in here.”
In addition to a district trophy, Friday’s winner gets to host its first-round opponent in the 11th Region Tournament before the event moves to Eastern Kentucky’s McBrayer Arena for the semifinals and finals. And they avoid the region’s other district champs for at least one night.
“To get a team to come to us would be huge rather than play at someone else’s place,” LexCath’s Ben Johnson said of the ability to host their first 11th Region game. “So, it means a lot. We’ve got to give everything we got.”
Wednesday night’s win over Dunbar did not come easy. Johnson, Lexington Catholic’s leading scorer, could not find the range from beyond the three-point arc, going 0-for-7. And the Bulldogs came out of the second half scoring five straight points and trimming what was as much as an 11-point first half deficit to a 36-35 LexCath lead early in the third period.
Then the Knights turned up the intensity.
“I think our press (changed the game),” said Johnson, who found other ways to score a game-high 24 points. “We started getting tipped balls … and after we get a couple of turnovers that just feeds our momentum and we kind of push it out.”
Dunbar committed seven turnovers over the next seven minutes, which LexCath converted into an 18-9 run to end the third period up 54-34.
Jack Gohmann had 20 points and Jackson Smith scored 13 for the Knights. Tim Hall scored 15, Nick Spalding, 13, and Zach Carter, 11, to lead Dunbar.
Friday, the Knights (28-2) face a team they’ve beaten by double digits twice. Johnson and the Knights know it could be different with the Commodores (16-12) this time around.
“Everybody’s playing awesome right now,” Johnson said. “I expect (Tates Creek) to play really hard … good defense. It’s going to be tough to score.”
Dunbar girls advance
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s Elise Ellison-Coons scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help lead the Bulldogs over Lexington Catholic 60-41 in the girls’ 43rd District semis Wednesday.
The effort pushed Ellison-Coons’ career rebounds over the 1,000 mark in her junior season.
“That’s a huge accomplishment to me,” said Ellison-Coons, who now has 1,004. “Rebounds are a huge thing to me”
Also big, the Bulldogs (21-8) have a chance to win their third district title in a row when they take on Tates Creek (18-11) at 6 p.m. Friday. Both teams advance to next week’s 11th Region Tournament.
“Friday means something big,” Ellison-Coons said. “That’s what we’re focused on.”
To beat LexCath, Dunbar also got a big contribution off the bench from Kenzie Sizemore, who chipped in eight points.
“She came in and she dominated. She got us hyped,” Ellison-Coons said. “And the second half, we just knew we’ve worked too hard to give up, so we just came in and shut them down.”
Dunbar outscored LexCath 24-14 in the final period. Tanaya Cecil and Halley Gadd chipped in 10 and eight points, respectively, for the Bulldogs. Chloe Treece led the Knights with 15 points.
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 11:57 PM.
