Lexington edges Willard in overtime

ONTARIO — Willard gave it all it had. The Crimson Flashes went toe-to-toe with nemesis Lexington and came up just short. Brayden Fogle — who was scoreless at halftime — hit a jumper with two seconds left to lift No. 2-seeded Lexington to a 59-57 overtime win over No. 3 Willard on Thursday in a Division II district final at Ontario High School. The two teams also entered the game among the top 10 teams in the final Associated Press poll in Div. II. Lexington was No. 3, and Willard was ranked seventh. The Crimson Flashes finish the season at 19-5 overall, and co-champions of the Sandusky Bay Conference Bay Division. "I thought we controlled the pace pretty well," Willard head coach Joe Bedingfield said. "We thought if we could keep them under 60, we'd have a chance at the end and we did. You have to make shots at the end." Even after Fogle's jumper, the Flashes got a good look. After a series of timeouts, Willard got the ball into Cam Robinson and his off-balance 3-pointer was just off the mark. "We got a good look," Bedingfield said. "I would ride with Cam 100 percent. That's somebody that comes in the gym at 6 a.m., plays football all season and gets all-Ohio, and still shows up every day. He's earned those shots." The Flashes also had a good look at the end of regulation. After Fogle tied the game at 53 on a corner 3, Willard worked the clock down to the final seconds. The Flashes didn't use a timeout, but Robinson got to the rim. His layup just missed, sending the game to overtime. "Cam Robinson gets a good look at the end," Lexington coach Scott Hamilton said. "I told the guys I do not want to hear a whistle, but I didn't want to give him that much room." Max Dawson almost carried Willard to a win himself in the final few minutes. Fogle grabbed an offensive rebound and scored to give Lexington (22-2) a 50-47 lead with 1:23 to go. Dawson answered on the other end with a 3 and he was fouled on the play. He made the free throw for a 51-50 edge with 1:05 remaining. On the other end, he blocked Seven Allen's drive and grabbed the rebound. He was fouled and made both shots to give Willard a 53-50 lead with 56.6 seconds left in regulation. "I can't have any more respect for a player than what I've got for Max Dawson," Hamilton said. "I've been fortunate to know him since he was in fifth grade. He played on a travel team coached by someone I know and had a couple of my friends' kids on it. "I just have the utmost respect for him." The Flashes led 40-32 early in the fourth quarter when Lexington came storming back. Buckets by Joe Caudill, Fogle, and Allen sliced the lead to 40-38 less than a minute into the quarter. Robinson steadied Willard with a bucket and later, an offensive rebound and score by Robinson kept the Flashes up 44-40 with 5:24 to play in the fourth quarter. Lexington limited Willard's chances and used a 3 by Gavin Husty and free throw from Allen to tie the game at 46 with 2:52 left in regulation. "Allen was the difference," said Bedingfield of the sophomore. "They didn't have him last year. He adds a lot to their team." Willard never trailed until late in the fourth quarter. The Flashes jumped out to a 15-6 lead after Jackson Beamer scored, but the Minutemen got a 3 and then score by Allen to slice within 15-11 after eight minutes. Willard extended the lead back to 22-15 in the second quarter on a bucket by Dawson, but Lexington again answered. Caudill scored before Allen hit a 3. But, the Flashes finished the half strong as Beamer and Dawson each tallied a bucket for a 26-20 halftime lead. "I thought we did exactly what we needed to do," Bedingfield said. "We weren't trying to hold the ball. We were trying to reverse the ball and look for court reversals. I thought we did a good job of keeping a lower possession total in the game because they're such good rebounders." Allen paced Lexington with 19 points while Fogle added 18 points and nine rebounds. "I couldn't be prouder of my kids and the fight that they had," Bedingfield said. "It just sucks it happened two years in a row." Dawson led all scorers with 26 points while Robinson added 13 points. Beamer tallied 12 points for Willard, who committed 12 turnovers and was outrebounded. The loss brings an end to the careers of Dawson, Cam Robinson, Aiden Slone, Masyn Johnson, and Isaac Robinson. Dawson scored 1,847 points and Cam Robinson reached 1,024 points. "It's hard. I just told them I love them," Bedingfield said. "I appreciate everything they've done for this program. They were beat in the district finals as freshmen and some got to play in it. "They have just embraced the role as leaders and have done such a good job with this program over the last three years from that moment." WILLARD (19-5) Jackson Beamer 5-0—12, Max Dawson 9-4—26, Isaac Robinson 3-0—6, Cam Robinson 4-5—13. TOTALS 21-9—57. LEXINGTON (22-2) Brayden Fogle 8-1—18, Seven Allen 7-3—19, Gavin Husty 2-0—5, Elijah Hudson 2-0—4, Joe Caudill 4-1—9, Dontrell Hughes 1-0—2, Jacob Legron 1-0—2. TOTALS 25-5—59. Willard 15 11 13 14 4 — 57 Lexington 11 9 12 21 6 — 59 3-point FGs: (W) Dawson 4, Beamer 2; (L) Allen 2, Fogle, Husty.