Dunbar does it again. Bulldogs knock off No. 1 Lexington Catholic for district title.
While Lexington Catholic might have been ranked the No. 1 boys’ basketball team in the state for most of the year, Paul Laurence Dunbar proved once again it is more than a match for the Knights, this time with the 43rd District Tournament championship on the line.
The Bulldogs’ Tim Hall and Nick Spalding each scored 25 points, Max VanDyke added 21 and Dunbar reeled off 14 unanswered in the fourth quarter to topple Lexington Catholic 81-68 for the district crown and first round home-court edge in next week’s 11th Region Tournament.
“We came out in the second half and did what we were supposed to do,” said Spalding, who scored five straight points including his fifth three-pointer of the game during the fourth quarter rally. “They were face guarding me, but I knew I had to help win the game for my team, so we just executed. … We needed the whole team to win.”
Hall scored 17 of his 25 points in the first half, helping keep the Bulldogs in it as Lexington Catholic tried to make it a blowout early. The Knights got up by as many as 12 points in the second quarter as LexCath’s John McCrear dunked off a Ben Johnson assist at the 5:46 mark.
Hall got a couple of offensive rebounds for put-backs and nailed a three-pointer as Dunbar trimmed the edge to 41-36 by halftime. Hall finished the game with 16 rebounds to go with three blocks and two steals. He was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
“We felt like the first half we were lacking defensively and then in the second half we came out with the mindset of tightening up,” said Hall, who noted Max VanDyke hit some huge three-pointers as well. Dunbar made 10 of 20 from beyond the arc. “That energy — they feed off of each other.”
Dunbar Coach Scott Chalk credited defense for Dunbar’s success against Lexington Catholic this season, having also handed the Knights their only other loss on March 5.
Zach Carter, a 6-4 junior forward, usually drew the task of trying to slow down LexCath’s Ben Johnson, a 6-1 Bellarmine commit, who is the 11th Region’s Mr. Basketball candidate.
“We work as hard as anybody at halfcourt man-to-man defense,” Chalk said, “just playing personnel the right way. And I think we did a good job against them the last two games and really the first game was pretty good.
“Zach is a pretty good matchup for Ben. He at least makes him have to work hard because he’s got good size, and he anticipates well. … You’re never going to shut a guy like Ben Johnson down. He’s a terrific player. So, just to make him struggle is all you can hope to do and then take away some other people.”
Johnson finished the game with 21 points and seven assists, but shot only 8-for-23 from the field and 1-for-7 from three point range. As a team, LexCath shot only 39.3 percent from the field to Dunbar’s 50 percent. Jack Gohmann and Ryan Russell each scored 11 points for the Knights.
Chalk also noted his team did a good job of not compounding mistakes, a sign that his team is maturing despite not having any seniors. Turnovers under LexCath’s trademark full-court press led to the Knights jumping out to their big first-half advantage. In the second half, Dunbar dealt with that pressure well.
“Down five at halftime, I thought we really held our composure,” Chalk said. “That would have had a chance to go back up to 10 in the old days with these guys. So, they’ve gotten a lot better.”
Now, Dunbar has to feel it has as good a chance as anyone to win next week’s 11th Region Tournament and with it a spot in the Boys’ Sweet 16 state tournament. Dunbar won the Sweet 16 in 2016, the same year of its last 43rd District title.
“I think they are hungry for sure, but all of our coaches in our district know if you win this district, you’ve got a chance. We feel like our district is that hard every year,” Chalk said. “I think there are four or five teams that can win it next week. We’ve just got to stay focused on what we do, not get distracted by other things and be ready to go and just try to keep the momentum going.”
43rd District Boys’ All-Tournament Team
Tim Hall (MVP), Nick Spalding, Max VanDyke, and Zach Carter, Paul Laurence Dunbar; Ben Johnson, Hudson Sparks and Jack Gohmann, Lexington Catholic; Tanner Walton and Tyler Hall, Lexington Christian; Daniel Kinley and Torri Turner, Lafayette; RJ Smith, Tates Creek.
This story was originally published March 20, 2021 at 7:55 AM.
