North Laurel ends Pulaski County’s unbeaten streak in front of ‘incredible’ capacity crowd
Players knew Tuesday’s clash between undefeated No. 3 Pulaski County and No. 5 North Laurel would be one of their biggest games of the season.
With North Laurel’s mascot being the Jaguars, the local paper dubbed Pulaski’s London visit as the “Rumble in the Jungle.”
North Laurel High School’s gymnasium filled to the brim. Shoulder-to-shoulder student sections bookended one sideline while the rest of the crowd spilled into the aisles, staircases and catwalks everywhere else. It’s fair to say the gym’s listed capacity of 3,211 was tested.
So were the previously unbeaten Maroons.
North Laurel led most of the way, but the Jags put an emphatic stamp on their 82-54 victory by outscoring Pulaski County 27-9 in the fourth quarter. That included 10 of Reed Sheppard’s game-high 29 points and two of Clay Sizemore’s six three-pointers.
Big-time atmosphere
With two weeks to go until the postseason, Tuesday’s atmosphere felt like the kind of big stage the Jaguars (21-4) wanted.
“It was incredible,” Sheppard said. “We got here at 5:30 and there was no parking. Pulaski brought three pep buses and then all of our students came out and took up the whole section. It doesn’t get better than this — this environment. Everybody goes crazy. End of the game, it’s crazy. It was a great atmosphere to get ready for the postseason.”
Ryan Davidson scored nine of his 25 points in the fourth quarter. He admitted some nerves early in front of the biggest crowd they’ve ever seen in their gym.
“It was insane,” he said. “You couldn’t hear your coaches or your teammates. The nerves were obviously pretty high just because everybody’s watching you and you don’t want to mess up.”
Pulaski kept things close for a half, trailing 36-30 at the intermission, led by Gavin Stevens’ 11 points. It would have been closer except for Sizemore’s sideways-running three-pointer at the horn.
“Believe it or not, I’ve actually worked on that a lot this summer,” Sizemore said, smiling.
Sizemore hit two threes apiece in the second, third and fourth quarters. His first three of the fourth — off a snap pass from Sheppard to him on the right baseline — put the Jaguars up 70-52 with 3:23 to play in the game and prompted a Pulaski timeout.
“It’s my specialty,” he said. “That’s my role on this team and I’ve learned to accept it and run with it.”
Sheppard shakes off shooting struggles
While it sounds unbelievable to imagine, Sheppard, the celebrated Kentucky recruit, could have scored more. The 6-foot-3 junior guard missed a number of shots and did most of his damage at the free throw line where he was a perfect 16-for-16.
“I hate to say this, but Reed Sheppard’s not playing very well right now, and I think he’s averaged 30 the last four games,” North Laurel Coach Nate Valentine said. “But that says volumes about what he is. He’s working his way out of it. He’s been in the gym for hours upon hours before school and after school and after games. He’s just trying to work through some things.”
While Sheppard attacked the rim to get to the foul line, his drives also set up his teammates. That made the misses easier to handle.
“You just keep playing and try not to let it bother you too much,” Sheppard said of his struggles from the field. “You can’t win a game with one player. Clay hit six threes. Ryan did his thing. Harry (Caden Harris) and Brody (Brock) did their thing as well. Brody hit some big threes in the first half and Harry, down low, got some rebounds and got a couple putbacks for us.”
Two weeks till postseason to get better
Pulaski County (23-1) began its undefeated run this season with a win over Madison Central, currently ranked No. 10 in the latest Dave Cantrall ratings. It also had an impressive victory over No. 19 Lincoln County along the way. But while The Associated Press ranked the Maroons as the state’s No. 3 team, the Cantrall ratings put them at No. 12, a seeming slight the Maroons could have rebuked with a win at North Laurel.
But Pulaski Coach John Fraley told the Commonwealth Journal that he felt his team had gotten “stagnant and complacent a little bit” amid the streak.
“We needed something to get their attention and that definitely got our attention,” Fraley said. “Now, we need to go back to working as hard as we can and get ready for Southwestern. We just gotta get back to worrying about us and be the best version of us we can be.”
The positives are there. Stevens led four players in double figures with 16 points. Caleb Sloan had 13 points. Cayden Lancaster and Zach Travis had 10 each.
The Jaguars know what it’s like to have an unbeaten streak end.
“People have no idea how hard it is,” Coach Valentine said. “Last year, we were sitting 19-0 and went to Lexington and got absolutely spanked two games in a row. They were sitting at 23-0, and I know they were probably wanting to win this game, but sometimes that’s the best thing that can happen to you going into the tournament.”
North Laurel also suffered a loss in the 13th Region championship game last season. Valentine put together a much tougher schedule for his team this year. With Sheppard’s celebrity, the team is used to playing in front of big crowds, although the Pulaski game stepped it up to another level.
“They’ve played in every environment possible. … So, I felt like our guys were really comfortable in this environment and that’s what you want,” Valentine said.
North Laurel faces No. 6 Covington Catholic on Friday and then on Tuesday takes on No. 18 Knox Central, the region rival who took out the Jaguars last year. Pulaski has Southwestern, Mercer County and Boyle County, last year’s 12th Region champ, on its remaining regular-season schedule.
Both North Laurel and Pulaski have lessons to learn from Tuesday night, Valentine said.
“It’s how you respond from this game. The win and the loss,” Valentine said. “One team’s happy tonight, one team’s not happy tonight. But tomorrow, it’s about how you’re going to respond to it, and how it’s going to lead you down these next two weeks.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 7:39 AM.
