Young Lexington Christian team finding chemistry in short, strange season
It’s hard for Lexington Christian boys’ basketball coach Ted Hall to remember when he last had his full team at a practice this season.
Last Friday, the Eagles had to postpone their game against Lafayette by a day because of COVID-19 contact tracing, plus the sudden illness of an assistant coach, meant LCA had no coaches available to lead the team.
While LCA has avoided a complete COVID-19 shutdown for their boys’ and girls’ varsity teams, in-person classes being held at the school have put players and coaches in the unstoppable path of contact tracing whenever an actual COVID-19 case turns up on campus.
That has meant various players and coaches at various times have had to enter isolation while the rest of the team trudged on through the nine games played since the delayed season began on Jan. 4.
“I think we’ve just been stopping and starting so much, really going back to last spring — I don’t know that any of us have gotten adjusted to it,” said Hall, who had to quarantine until Saturday because of a COVID-19 contact in one of his classes. “Saturday, we didn’t play well. Monday, at yesterday’s practice, they did a nice job. And then, I thought, those guys did a really good job tonight.”
Tuesday, a near-complete LCA contingent took down 43rd District rival Tates Creek by a score of 59-51 — a good win for a young team. LCA (6-3) has four seniors, but its starters and much of its depth come from elsewhere in the lineup.
“We’re just trying to get all these guys in at the same time to basically get the chemistry up and become better this year and next year,” said junior Tanner Walton, who led the Eagles with 22 points, including going 3-for-3 from three-point range. “We’re really young. None of these guys played that much last year. So, we’ve just got to keep practicing getting used to all these teams in our district.”
LCA’s full-court press and 3-2 zone caused problems for Tates Creek all night, but perhaps most significantly in the second period as it stretched a three-point advantage to 13 to lead 30-17 at intermission.
Walton keyed the rally with two of his three three-pointers in the run along with a block and a steal that set up five more unanswered points. Tyler Hall hit one of his two three-pointers in the second period and finished with 14 points.
“I shot pretty good from three, which opens up a lot of things for us,” Walton said. “Then if I drive and kick, these guys can hit threes, which is really good.”
Tates Creek has also managed to avoid a varsity COVID-19 shutdown, while every other Fayette County boys’ team has had its seasons interrupted at some point.
The Commodores (3-8) are also a young team, rostering one senior. Tates Creek rallied within four points of the lead in the fourth quarter, but poor three-point shooting (4-for-19) kept them from getting closer. Eric Hackett led three players in double figures for Tates Creek with 13 points. Sam Parrish had 11 and Camdyn Combs scored 10.
Each of LCA’s losses this season have come to its other rivals in the 43rd, No. 2 Lexington Catholic, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Lafayette. The closest margin in those defeats was 16 points. But the losses to LexCath and Dunbar came when Walton was sidelined with a nagging ankle injury. He returned to the lineup in time to help his team win the All “A” 11th Region finals, meaning a trip to the All “A” Classic later this month in Richmond. Rematches with Dunbar and LexCath also await.
Despite the challenges, Hall has been impressed with how his team and all of their opponents have handled this unique season.
“Everybody that we played has really seemed to have adjusted well (to the situation),” Hall said. “And everybody’s had unusual circumstances — whether it’s losing practice time or losing players or losing coaches — it’s been a year that I think we can all be really proud of how these guys, our team and all the other teams have been able to perform and persevere.”
Highlights
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 7:56 AM.
