LCA Defeats Lafayette in 43rd District Championship (with 5 Takeaways)
A packed house at Lexington Christian Academy saw the home team Eagles pull off another 43rd district championship win, this time knocking off the Lafayette Generals. Lexington Christian has now one consecutive district championships, having knocked off down-the-road rival Lexington Catholic last season. Last season was it’s first championship in program history.
from the tip, Lexington Christian was the aggressor. Coach Nate Valentine and the Eagles started the game working inside, going right at Layfayette and sophomore big man Ray Surratt. Lexington Christian’s Carter Hendrickson, Austin Hall, and Kyle Rode all stand 6’5 or taller, and all three established a presence early. Then, Kyle Rode started getting hot from deep, making the Generals have to step out and guard the three – eventually opening up driving lanes and spacing the floor more for the Eagles. Lafayette would end the 1st quarter down 28-10.
Lafayette’s forte all season has been pressing in the full-court off made baskets. Struggling to score on Lexington Christian’s length made it difficult for the Generals to pressure the Eagles and create transition scoring opportunities in the first half. Senior guard Eric Powell would give Lafayette a bit of a boost on a couple possessions. LCA would take a 35-18 lead into halftime.
The General’s would get it going a bit to start the 2nd half by hitting a couple big threes from senior Cameron King, allowing them to finally set up in their signature press. Lafayette would get it within 10, but it was not enough. A huge 2nd half by Kyle Rode and Lexington Christian would lead the Eagles to a 72-46 win. Both teams will move on to play in the 11th Region tournament.
5 TAKEAWAYS
- As stated before, Lafayette not hitting shots forced them to have to play Lexington Christian in transition, and if they were able to stop the ball they then had to stay down and guard them in the half-court. Tough to do with LCA’s inside/out ability. Give credit to the Generals early 2nd half run. They did not surrender and stuck to their pressing game plan when shots did fall.
- Lexington Christian did a job in holding Lafayette’s big man Ray Surratt to only 3 points. Surratt is averaging 10.5 on the year. Lafayette was led in scoring by Eric Powell with 11.
- Kyle Rode continues to step up in the moment. Rewind back to his All “A” Classic performance where he helped lead LCA to a championship – Rode had 33 points tonight and was an absolute force to be reckoned with. He also showed an impressive ability to get hot from 3-point range.
- Some small college, ideally at the D3 level, should give Lafayette’s Cameron King a look. King has range and leads by example on the court. Tough nosed player and has to be a joy to coach. Don’t remember seeing him taking a possession off, even when down a ton.
- Heard a couple people asking around the gym – can Lexington Christian compete for the 11th Region title? The immediate response was, “to do so, they gotta go through Scott County”. That’s an accurate statement, but if the team I saw tonight shows up I think they have a chance. LCA has won 18 of it’s last 19 and kept it within range at Scott County earlier in the year, falling by 11.