Cards grind out win

A struggle, but South Laurel downs Whitley Co., 44-41

By Denis House

WILLIAMSBURG—If you went to the South Laurel-Whitley Co. game looking for a beautiful display of high school basketball Friday night, you were disappointed, as the Cardinals eked out a 44-41 win over the Colonels.

“We didn’t have a lot of rhythm tonight,” coach Steve Wright said. “Whitley took it away from us. We hadn’t played in a few days (since New Year’s Eve), and we had some distractions in practice, with (Matt) St. John injuring his knee.”

St. John didn’t seem to be favoring his knee, as he scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked six shots in 19 and a half minutes of action, as he battled foul trouble throughout most of the game.

A sluggish first quarter saw South Laurel (10-3, 2-1) holding an 8-6 lead at the buzzer, six of those from St. John. But the Colonels (6-8, 2-3) battled back in the second quarter, as St. John picked up his second foul within the first 10 seconds, and was forced to the bench for the remainder of the half.

With South’s big man on the bench, Whitley Co. outscored the Cardinals 15-9 to hold a 21-17 halftime lead. The Cards struggled at the free throw line, going 0-4 in the quarter, and just 3-of-14 for the game.

Meanwhile, Austin Ponder drained a three, and Jamie Lebanion added six points to give the Colonels the lead.

“We just kind of held on in the second quarter,” Wright said. “We didn’t play that well. It was a standoff in the first half.”

With St. John back in the line-up at the start of the second half, he scored six of South’s first eight points to give the Cards a 25-23 lead before Jeremy Daniels scored, tying the game at 25-25 with 4:47 left.

Wes Dean then hit back-to-back threes to push the lead to 31-25. .Dean would finish with nine points.

After St. John scored at the start of the fourth to give South a 36-29 lead, he picked up his fourth foul, sending him to the bench with 7:23 left in the game. Whitley immediately went on a 6-0 run, all on lay-ups, to cut the lead to one, 36-35, with 5:12 left to play, forcing Wright to call a timeout.

Out of the break, Dean scored to give South a 38-35 advantage. A jumper by Mike Storms again brought Whitley to within one (38-37), and that brought St. John back into the game, and he made his presence felt right away, scoring three points to push the lead to 41-37.

He then assisted on a Matt Watkins basket as the lead grew to 43-37 with 36.4 seconds left. But Whitley wasn’t finished, as Storms and Lebanion scored, and with 2.6 seconds left, South’s lead was down to two, 43-41.

But St. John would be fouled on the inbound play, and he made one-of-two from the free throw line, and South Laurel escaped with a 44-41 district win.

“Any time you win a game in the 40s you’ve got to be happy with that,” Wright said.

The Cards faced Madisonville-North Hopkins Saturday in the Kentucky Prep Classic at Montgomery Co., and will travel to take on Williamsburg tonight.

Denis House can be reached at sports@sentinel-echo.com.



South Laurel 44, Whitley Co. 41

South Laurel 8 9 17 10—44

Whitley Co. 6 15 8 12—41

South Laurel (44)—Dean 9, Watkins 7, Gilbert 4, Smith 4, St. John 18, Brashear 2.

Whitley Co. (41)—Storms 10, Prewitt 2, Lebanion 8, Daniels 6, Crawford 2, Lowrie 6, Ponder 5, Harris 2.

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