Update: Canceled. Saturday of tribute games includes Reed Sheppard and North Laurel taking on Henry Clay
Editor’s note: The Jock Sutherland Classic has been canceled as a result of this week’s storm. There has not been a rescheduled date set. The story below was published ahead of the cancellation.
If the weather cooperates, two of Kentucky’s most talked about boys’ high school basketball players will swing through Lexington for games on Saturday as a few of the city’s teams pay tribute to the sport’s history.
Lafayette’s annual Jock Sutherland Classic will have Reed Sheppard and the No. 5 North Laurel Jaguars taking on No. 19 Henry Clay at 6 p.m. That game will be preceded by Trent Noah and the Harlan County Black Bears facing West Jessamine at 4 p.m. Shelby County will face the host Generals in the third leg of the tripleheader at 7:45 p.m.
Sheppard, the celebrated Kentucky commit who is still just a junior, needs no introduction.
For folks who might not know about Noah, he’s a 6-foot-6, 244-pound guard who has been lighting up scoreboards in eastern Kentucky all season, averaging 28.9 points per game. He dropped a season-high 66 points on Cordia two weeks ago.
The 6 p.m. game marks another important test for Henry Clay, which on Tuesday suffered an overtime defeat to defending 11th Region champion Madison Central in Richmond.
“This time of year, when you’re trying to win the 11th Region, is when you want to play teams like Woodford (County) like we did last week, the Madison Centrals, the North Laurels,” Henry Clay Coach Daniel Brown said. His team beat No. 21 Woodford County at the buzzer last week. “You want to play those teams and put your kids in high-level situations, because here in about two and a half weeks (when postseason begins), it doesn’t get any higher level.”
Brown’s first coaching job came at North Laurel in 2004-2005. He went 20-12 in his only season before moving to Lexington.
“I know the community and I love it, and I know the people in London are excited about having (Sheppard),” Brown said. “We’re excited about playing them.”
The Jock Sutherland Classic pays tribute to the legendary high school coach and former University of Louisville men’s basketball commentator who led three different prep teams — Gallatin County, Harrison County and Lafayette — to the Boys’ Sweet 16. He capped his career by leading Lafayette to the 1979 state championship.
Dunbar to play in historic gym
Editor’s note: Due to the ice storm, the Paul Laurence Dunbar game against Central at the old Dunbar gym has been rescheduled for next year, Feb. 4, 2023.
Earlier Saturday, at 2 p.m., Paul Laurence Dunbar’s boys’ team is scheduled to play Central at the Dunbar Community Center gymnasium, home of Lexington’s original Dunbar High School teams.
The game is being held at “old Dunbar” as part of the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame’s “Glory Road” project to honor “the many gymnasiums across Kentucky that have historical significance in the development of the cultural phenomenon of Kentucky high school basketball,” according to the hall of fame’s press release.
Located at 545 N. Upper Street, Dunbar was an all-Black school open from 1923 until 1967. It closed when the school district desegregated, becoming a junior high for a time before much of it was razed with the structure left today becoming a community center.
It was home to the Dunbar Bearcats, who under Coach S.T. Roach made six state tournament and two state finals appearances between 1957 and 1965. Dunbar was the first all-Black school in Kentucky to integrate into the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Prior to its KHSAA admission in 1957, it was one of the most successful teams in the segregated Kentucky High School Athletic League. Roach’s record over his 22-year career was 512-142.
Both old Dunbar and the modern school are named for the 19th century poet who was the son of former Kentucky slaves. Paul Laurence Dunbar High School opened in southwest Lexington in 1990. Its gym is named in Roach’s honor and a banner recognizing the Bearcats’ achievements hangs from its rafters alongside the modern school’s banners.
The hall of fame’s “Glory Road,” project continues later this month with games in historic gyms in Monticello, Owensboro, Paintsville and Ashland.
This story was originally published February 2, 2022 at 2:36 PM.
