‘We can beat anybody.’ Lexington Catholic takes down North Laurel in opener
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- Lexington Catholic used size and a full‑court press to beat No. 6 North Laurel 59-48.
- Everett Stuart led with 15 points; Max Meagher supplied 11 rebounds and four assists.
- Knights now face tougher slate, hosting No. 3 Covington Catholic their holiday tourney.
Lexington Catholic might not have been a preseason top 10 boys’ basketball team heading into its home opener on Tuesday, but it walked out with an impressive victory over one by the end of the night.
The Knights, ranked No. 21 in the Herald-Leader Boys Basketball Preseason Top 25 coaches poll, took down No. 6 North Laurel, the defending 13th Region champs, by a score of 59-48.
“It was a great overall team win,” said 6-7 sophomore Everett Stuart, who led the Knights with 15 points and had an alley-oop dunk on a feed from Max Meagher that helped cement the victory. “I couldn’t be more proud of our leaders and our seniors like Hank Woodall, and Max.”
Woodall scored 14 points, almost all in the paint, while Meagher contributed nine points and a game-high 11 rebounds to go with four assists.
“I think we can do great things when we’re physical and rebound. We showed that today,” Woodall said. “If we come out and just play hard every single minute like we did, we can beat anybody.”
North Laurel got 21 points from Herald-Leader preseason player of the year Reece Davidson, their 6-7 Liberty commit, and 12 points from fellow senior Jordan Rawlings, but only shot 35.6% from the field. Davidson was 1 for 7 from 3-point range.
“Their pressure took us out of everything that we wanted to do, and we never recovered. They just knocked us on our heels from the beginning,” North Laurel coach Nate Valentine said. “We just probably didn’t do a great job in preparation of playing against that pressure. But, you know, it’s a risk you run when you say, ‘Hey, we’re going to open our season up at Lexington Catholic in the first game.’”
The Knights’ trademark full-court press, now manned by a team that goes 6-foot-8, 6-6 and 6-4 from three starters, harried North Laurel the entire game.
“We know we’ll have to play as hard as we can every night,” Lexington Catholic coach Brandon Salsman said. “It’s the deepest and biggest team I’ve had. We kind of showed that tonight with the size and how we’re able to muscle ourselves back into the game and take control of it there in the second quarter.”
LexCath went on a 16-4 run from late in the first quarter until 4:50 was left in the second, as Stuart and Davidson exchanged dunks and Meagher knocked down a 3-pointer. The Jags cut their deficit to three points with a run of their own over the next two minutes, but got no closer than six points the rest of the way.
Stuart followed his alley-oop dunk in the fourth quarter with a steal on the ensuing North Laurel possession. He was fouled going to the basket and made 1 of 2 free throws for Lexington Catholic’s largest lead, 55-40 with 4:08 to play.
“Everett’s been a quiet dark horse in this region for the last year,” Salsman said. “I don’t think the words dark horse will be on his name after this year.”
Everett averaged 3.4 points per game last season in a reserve role.
“He’s grown up so much since last year. I couldn’t tell you how proud I am of this kid right here,” Woodall said of the sophomore.
North Laurel lost just one senior off last season’s region champs, but Davidson has been sidelined by his recovery from meniscus surgery for most of the preseason.
“We’ve just got to get everybody comfortable,” Valentine said. “We had guys in spots where we couldn’t execute anything. Our guys were so unsure, and their pressure had a lot to do with that. Reece is a great player. … He’s been back two weeks and hasn’t played a game since the state tournament last year. He’ll continue to get better. I’m not worried about him.”
Lexington Catholic’s schedule only gets tougher from here. The Knights host No. 3 Covington Catholic on Saturday and will have their annual White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic from Dec. 27-30, featuring nine preseason top 25 teams, including North Laurel and No. 7 Bryan Station.
“We knew we had to challenge ourselves if we plan on winning the 11th Region and our district,” Salsman said. “That’s what we wanted to do.”
Coming up: Lexington Catholic Holiday Tournament
What: White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic
When: Dec. 27-30
Where: Lexington Catholic
Rankings are Herald-Leader preseason rankings
First round games (Dec. 27)
- No. 25 Great Crossing vs. No. 11 Caverna, 10:30 a.m.
- West Jessamine vs. No. 7 Bryan Station, 12 p.m.
- Taylor County vs. No. 12 North Oldham, 1:30 p.m.
- No. 10 Daviess County vs. Woodford County, 3 p.m.
- Paintsville vs. No. 21 Lexington Catholic, 4:30 p.m.
- McCracken County vs. No. 20 Boyd County, 6 p.m.
- No. 23 Marshall County vs. No. 6 North Laurel, 7:30 p.m.
- Collins vs. Lyon County, 9 p.m.
Quarterfinals (Dec. 28)
- Great Crossing-Caverna winner vs. Daviess County-Woodford County winner, 4:30 p.m.
- Paintsville-Lexington Catholic winner vs. Collins-Lyon County winner, 6 p.m.
- West Jessamine-Bryan Station winner vs. Marshall County-North Laurel winner, 7:30 p.m.
- Taylor County-North Oldham winner vs. McCracken County-Boyd County winner, 9 p.m.
Semifinals (Dec. 29)
- Game 1, 6:30 p.m.
- Game 2, 8 p.m.
Final (Dec. 30)
- Championship game, 7 p.m.
