North no contest for talented Trinity

Jaguars fall to Shamrocks, 63-32

By Denis House

Everything North Laurel needed to do, and everything they planned to do, became irrelevant in less than seven minutes. That’s how long it took North Laurel to miss its first 12 shots. That’s how long it took North Laurel to get out-rebounded, 11-4. That’s also how long it took to fall behind 17-0.

“That’s a tough start when you’re playing a team of that caliber,” North Laurel coach Jim Conway said.

No. 1 ranked Trinity won it’s 19th straight game with a 63-32 rout at North Laurel Friday.

The Jaguars were getting good enough looks at the basket. Shots that normally fall more often than they did Friday. They may have been affected by the blink-and-they-are-on-you quickness of Trinity. Or at least the thought of it.

“In order to compete with a team like, that you’re going to have to make shots early. You’re going to have to get some things to go your way. You’re going to have to get every defensive rebound, especially early,” Conway said.

None of those things happened.

Trinity did turn the ball over six times in the first quarter, including their first two possessions. That may have been the Jaguars only chance to get something positive on their side. Three minutes in, the Shamrocks lead stood at just four. Then Mr. Basketball candidate, Josh Sewell, broke open on a backdoor cut for a three-point play. Taylor Epley followed with a basket in transition. Conway called a timeout as the momentum started to build for Trinity. He would call a second just over a minute later. But it’s hard to turn momentum when you make 1-of-13 shots.

“I used every timeout I had to try to stop the bleeding,” Conway said.

If you could pick one quarter to watch, it would have been the second quarter. The shots started to fall for North Laurel and they competed. Although still outscored 20-14 in the period, Conway liked what he saw those eight minutes.

“Here’s the thing, if we had played as hard all three quarters as we did in the second quarter,” Conway said.

The Jaguars cut the lead to 18 early in the second half behind the hot hand of Adrian Wardrup. Wardrup scored the first eight points in the second half for North Laurel and led all scorers with 15 points.

North Laurel’s 32 points marked a season low. The previous low of 39 points was against another highly-ranked team, Clark County in the season opener. All other games North Laurel has scored 51 or more. You aren’t going to score a lot of points when you shoot 25 percent from the field and five percent from three-point range.

“The goal for us, we wanted to make sure we limited possessions,” Conway said. “But when you get down 17-2 you have got to try and quicken it up a little bit. Our kids think they can get it all back at once.”

One lesson Conway wants his players to take from this loss is the commitment of the players on a team like Trinity. The Shamrocks have players that work on basketball year round.

“The biggest lesson is that we talk about things in the off season. Things they need to do on their own to improve,” Conway said. “I’m going to reiterate that again. How many guys in this locker room took that to heart and worked on it the way we wanted them to work on it?”

Conway said the other lesson is to not sulk, play the games that are on the schedule and get better.

“We can’t dwell on it. We’ve got to turn around, get on the bus, and go play another pretty good team tomorrow,” Conway said.

The Jaguars were scheduled to play at Shelby Valley Saturday, another highly ranked team. Shelby Valley has won two straight All “A” titles and is favored to return to the Sweet 16. North will then host Harlan County on Tuesday.

Mitch Howard can be reached at mhoward@sentinel-echo.com.



Trinity 63, North Laurel 32

Trinity 17 20 15 11—63

North Laurel 2 14 9 7—32

TRINITY (63) —Corbett 10, Netherton 3, Foster 9, Quick 5, Zipperle2, Perito 2, Dieydonne 6, Sewell 12, Armstrong 8, Epley 6.

NORTH LAUREL (32)—Wardrup 15, Cheek 3, Shears 3, Likins 5, Spencer 2, Eversole 4.

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