Chris Hohm guided LCA to its first sectional championship game Saturday night against Southwood. (File photo by Mike Deak)

PONETO – LCA just didn’t have enough to keep pace with Southwood.

The Knights withstood the Cougars early punches and fired back with a fury, using a monster second quarter to run away with a 78-25 win at the Class 1-A Southern Wells Boys Basketball Sectional championship.

Seth Martin single-handedly kept LCA in the game early, scoring all 10 of the team’s points. The Cougars were down just 15-10 heading into the second quarter, but Martin and company couldn’t slow down Southwood.

Carson Rich scored nine points in the quarter, one of six players with at least a point among a 25-point frame. The Kinghts held LCA to just five total points in the quarter, expanding  to a 40-15 lead at the break. A 27-5 bulge in the third ended any of the curiosity of an LCA rally, sending Southwood to its fifth sectional championship and third in the past four years.

Carson Rich led the Knights with 24 points and Connor Rich added 12 points.

Martin ended with 13 points and seven rebounds to lead the Cougars, which bow out of the season at 6-19. LCA was playing in its first-ever sectional championship as an IHSAA member school.

The loss also ended the current Chris Hohm era at Lakeland Christian Academy. Hohm coached at LCA for six seasons, taking a 1-22 team in his first year to a 13-12 program in year four. Hohm is stepping away to take a two-year teaching and service opportunity in Tanzania. Hohm stated at the end of the regular season he was not retiring from coaching for good, but taking the African opportunity full steam and letting time serve as his plan.

“I’m really proud of these guys for the growth that they showed this year,” Hohm said Saturday night. “They battled adversity and kept working hard. We had a good start to the game tonight, but Southwood pulled away in the second quarter.”

Southwood (11-13) advances to meet Covington (20-6) in the first game of the Frankfort Regional.