Lexington boys basketball inches closer to ending championship drought

Before the season started, the Lexington boys basketball team put up handprints next to the photos of the school’s previous state championship-winning teams. They want to replace those handprints with a picture of their own.

The Wildcats moved one step closer to that goal Friday night after a 56-48 victory over Summerville in the Class 5A Lower State championship.

Lexington will face Byrnes, a 65-55 winner over Mauldin earlier Friday, for the Class 5A state championship at 8 p.m. March 1 back at the Florence Center.

Lexington hasn’t lost to an in-state school all season. It last played for a state championship in 2012. The last basketball state championship came in 2000, a 24-year drought.

“We want to break the wall down,” Lexington coach Elliott Pope said. “We’ve had a mental wall going on with our guys in some instances, but I think you’re seeing a little bit of a chip away to get past that.”

The Wildcats were looking to erase the disappointment of a season ago. They made the Upper State championship game but lost to eventual state champion Dorman in the semifinal round. That was extra motivation this season for a team led by Texas signee Cam Scott and fellow senior Jaxon Prunty.

Lexington (28-2) never trailed and withstood two huge runs fueled by Yannick Smith.

Kaleb Evans and Prunty each scored 13 points and Scott added 10 in the balanced Wildcat attack.

“We actually looked at the Dorman film (from last year) and we didn’t want to feel the same way,” Prunty said. “Going to the locker room and seeing the seniors crying, we didn’t want to feel that. I think this time we took it way more seriously in practice this whole week and that’s what led to this outcome.”

Evans hit two big 3-pointers in the third quarter to keep the lead in double digits for most of the quarter. But the Green Wave (25-3) had one final run in it. Smith, who scored a game-high 28 points, hit back-to-back threes as part of an 11-0 Summerville run that trimmed the deficit to 48-46.

Caleb Campbell then hit a layup and Evans made perhaps the biggest shot of the night. The junior guard knocked down a corner 3-pointer with 2:52 remaining that pushed the margin back to 53-46. Summerville managed only two free throws the rest of the way. Now Lexington is hoping to finally eliminate that feeling from a season ago in the semifinal loss.

“Last year, that feeling was not a good feeling,” Evans said. “We came back in August, and we didn’t want to feel like that again. We knew we had to put the work in to get past this game. We didn’t want to have that feeling again like last year walking off the court.”

Pope knows the work isn’t complete yet. There’s one more wall to knock down.

“We have a really, really good Byrnes team we have to prepare for on Friday,” he said. “We have to work overtime to get prepared for next Friday night.”

L: Kaleb Evans 13, Jaxon Prunty 13, Cam Scott 10, Campbell 8, Bell 6, Byrd 4, Rollins 2. S: Yannick Smith 28, Teal 9, Jenkins 4, Y. Smith 4, Taylor 2, Brown 1.

This story was originally published February 23, 2024 at 12:00 AM.