Two weeks after a controversial overtime loss to its rival, the Trinity High School basketball team flipped the script Friday night.

Jayden Johnson scored a game-high 19 points as the Shamrocks crushed St. Xavier, 81-59, in front of a packed house at Bellarmine University’s Knights Hall.

St. X beat Trinity, 59-58, on Jan. 12 in the semifinals of the Louisville Invitational Tournament at Valley. That game ended on Chief Cameron’s putback that was ruled good by officials, though replays and photos showed the basket shouldn’t have counted.

Trinity (17-4) — ranked No. 4 in the state — left no doubt in the rematch.

“Top team in the city,” Johnson said when asked what Trinity proved Friday. “Everybody wants to talk about Trinity and that we can’t close a game. But 20-ball on our rivals. That’s just us being able to come together.”

The Shamrocks led, 36-27, at halftime and put it away in the third quarter. Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers and Julius Edmonds followed with a dunk that gave the Shamrocks a 52-35 lead — and fired up the Shamrocks student section — at the 3:04 mark of the third quarter.

Johnson struggled with his shot early in the season but hit 5 of 7 from behind the arc Friday.

“I’ve been in the gym, working constantly, all day and every day,” he said. “Just trying to get my shot back.”

The Shamrocks did it without head coach Mike Szabo, who is out indefinitely for health reasons. Longtime assistant Bret Saxton is serving as acting head coach in Szabo’s absence.

Saxton said the difference Friday was limiting turnovers, as the Shamrocks finished with nine. Trinity committed 17 turnovers in the LIT loss to St. X.

“We wanted to attack pressure with pressure … finding open layups and open 3s,” Saxton said. “With Jayden knocking down a few early and getting the ball to Julius down low and finishing at the rim, that was the big difference. If you look at our shot chart, I was so proud of our guys for buying into our game plan.”

It was a miserable shooting night for No. 7 St. X (17-3), which finished 3 of 25 from 3-point range. The Tigers entered the contest ranked No. 3 in the state in 3-pointers made (205), averaging 10.8 makes per game.

Jeremiah Jackson led the Tigers with 14 points.

“That was not our best,” St. X coach Kevin Klein said. “We pride ourselves on toughness and being the more aggressive team, and tonight that did not show up for the 32 minutes we have seen throughout the year. We’ve not been hit to that extent. …

“I love this group, and they’re very resilient. I know they’re going to bounce back and stick together. I’m excited to see where we go from here.”

When it was over, Trinity had a victory party on the Bellarmine court. Saxton got drenched with the celebratory water cooler dump.

If there was any pain remaining from that loss two weeks ago, it was nowhere to be found.

“Us losing at the LIT, that was uncalled for,” Johnson said. “I’m not going to talk about the shot. Everybody already knows about it. We just had that mentality to come in here and kill and to get it back for coach Szabo.”

TRINITY           22       14       21       24 - 81

ST. XAVIER       19       8         10       22 - 59

Trinity (17-4) — Julius Edmonds 12, Drae Vasser 12, Josiah Lawson 6, Jayden Johnson 19, Alex Johnson 7, Lance Chandler 8, Avery Frasher 2, Rocco Pfeiffer 8, Keriawn Berry 3, Thomas Hornek 4.

St. Xavier (17-3) — Will Hanke 4, Graham Krezmien 7, Chief Cameron 8, Chance Dillingham 11, Jeremiah Jackson 14, Bryce Johnson 2, Brandon Dayes 3, NoaSosa Friedman 8, Henry Peters 2.

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Follow on X @kyhighs.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KHSAA basketball: Trinity cruises to victory against St. Xavier