Lexington Catholic forced into unplanned extra work against opponent with 10 seniors
With practices and the regular season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic, playing an overtime game is certainly one way to get more experience on the court.
But Lexington Catholic Coach Brandon Salsman is not ready to make it a habit.
“I hate overtime games,” Salsman said after his Knights survived an 80-78 thriller over defending All “A” Classic state champion St. Henry on Thursday at home. “It’s extra work for me and, hopefully, I can ask our president tomorrow if she’s gonna give me extra pay for extra time on the court.”
While that’s unlikely (he’s joking), Lexington Catholic (2-0) will surely be in more close games with a schedule that includes eight Herald-Leader preseason top 25 teams and an 11th Region gantlet that last year took out both the highly regarded Knights and preseason favorite Henry Clay in the postseason, denying a bid to the Sweet 16.
Normally, Lexington Catholic’s holiday tournament provides a glimpse at some of the top teams in the state, but with those games canceled this year due to COVID-19, LexCath is turning to a pair of smaller showcase events later this season that will bring No. 11 Highlands, No. 4 Ashland Blazer and No. 16 North Laurel to Lexington.
While Erlanger’s St. Henry (1-1) isn’t ranked statewide, it’s considered by coaches in the 9th Region just a notch below No. 2 Covington Catholic and Highlands and has a veteran roster of 10 seniors and two juniors from its All “A” title-winning squad led by guards Wyatt Vieth and Jude Bessler.
Bessler hit a buzzer-beating three to tie Thursday’s game at 69 and send it to an extra period.
With Lexington Catholic having just gone up three points with 7.2 seconds left in the overtime, Salsman told his players to foul St. Henry in the backcourt to try to avoid another such clutch performance.
“We tried it once the one way, so I figured we’d try the other way,” Salsman said of the strategy.
The gambit worked. St. Henry’s Cory Shea hit the first free throw and intentionally missed the second to try to set up a tying put-back effort with 4.2 seconds on the clock. But the scramble for the loose ball ended up in a scrum on the floor as time ran out.
“They have a great team this year,” LexCath’s Ben Johnson said of St. Henry. Johnson scored a game-high 31 points for the Knights and had nine rebounds and seven assists. “They’re a great shooting team. They didn’t miss many threes.”
Bessler led the Crusaders with 25 points and made four of five three-pointers. Veith, the All “A” MVP last season, struggled shooting, but grabbed 10 rebounds and had six assists to go with his six points.
Johnson made a big three of his own with LexCath down 73-71 midway through the overtime. Hudson Sparks stole the ball as LexCath pressed full-court to get possession back. He dropped it off to Ryan Russell who found Johnson striding back into the play near the top of the key. Johnson’s catch-and-shoot three from 2 feet outside the arc put the Knights up 74-73.
“That was huge. I thought that was the momentum shifter,” Johnson said of the steal and three. “In OT, being down two, it’s kind of a confidence killer, and then coming up and hitting a three to go up one — that’s a big momentum shift.”
His fadeaway moments later near the right elbow put LexCath up for good.
“I don’t think he played great, and a lot of that had to do with their defense, but he finds ways to win games like that,” Salsman said of Johnson. “That’s why I think he should be Mr. Basketball.”
While Johnson gets much of the attention for LexCath as one of the state’s leading candidates for the state’s top individual high school basketball honor, the Knights saw three other players reach double figures in scoring — Sparks, 10, Russell, 13, and Jack Gohmann, 15. They also got eight points and nine rebounds from Reece Potter, a sophomore center who grew 6 inches in the offseason to stand 6-11.
“How about Hudson Sparks, a sophomore, coming up with that big steal?” Salsman said. “I thought he and Reece Potter were exceptional playing tonight in a big-time atmosphere playing against a team of 10 seniors.”
Salsman puts Johnson and “Mr. Basketball” in the same sentence almost every time the coach is interviewed, and the shooting guard knows how to get others on board.
“I’ve got to keep getting my teammates involved, getting people open shots, just playing for others and winning games out here,” Johnson said. “A great record speaks volumes.”
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