LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. — BARBOURVILLE—Back-to-back games have not been kind to the South Laurel Cardinals this season.

Prior to the past weekend, the Cardinals had played back-to-back games three times (not including tournament action), and were 0-6.

This past weekend South Laurel had another set of back-to-back games on its schedule. On Friday, the Cards played host to Williamsburg and came away with a 49-46 win. Saturday night, a tired South Laurel turned right around and traveled to take on one of the top teams in the 13th Region, the Barbourville Tigers, and fell, 55-48.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” coach Jeff Davis said. “We were a little fatigued.”

The Cardinals (8-16) came out cold from the field, missing their first seven shots and fell behind quickly, 9-0. South Laurel didn’t score its first points until the 3:51 mark when Zac Baxter made two free throws. Those points would spark a 9-0 run, and when Jeff Hale hit a jumper with 1:34 left, the game was tied, 10-10. Barbourville (19-3) held a 14-12 lead after one.

For the second straight game a single digit quarter plagued. South was only able to score five points in the second quarter. “We’ve got to get over the hump and no have single digit quarters,” Davis said. His team had a four-point third quarter in the win against Williamsburg the night before.

Like the first quarter, South came out cold, missing its first five shots. Meanwhile, the Tigers went on a 10-0 run, including two threes from Josh Hildebrand, to push the lead to 24-12. A three by Alexander Phipps ended the half for the Tigers and gave Barbourville a 30-17 lead.

“We weren’t going to the boards in the first half,” Davis said. “We did better in the second half.”

The lead grew to 19 in the third quarter (39-20) before the Cardinal offense woke up, going on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to 39-33 with 2:32 left in the quarter.

The Cards used the three-pointer to get back in the game. Three straight threes (two by Baxter, one from Trevor Grubb) started the run. Grubb would add another later in the quarter, while Matthew Slavey had one early in the third.

Just when South cut the lead to six, Barbourville answered with five straight points to push the lead back to 11, 44-33, with 48.7 seconds left.

South would cut the lead to four twice in the fourth (44-40 and 46-42), the last coming with four minutes left when Lucas Hale grabbed the rebound off a missed Grubb three and scored the easy basket.

But the Cards would once again go cold, going almost two and a half minutes without a score until Grubb’s floater in the lane dropped with 1:20 left to cut the lead to 51-44. South would hang close over the final minute of action. A Jeff Hale basket with 50 seconds left brought South within seven, 53-46. Grubb then hit Austin Rader with a beautiful pass which Rader converted into a layup, and with 26.2 seconds left, the lead was down to five, 53-48.

That would be as close as the Cardinals would get. Two free throws by Darrin Mills made the final 55-48.

“I would like for us to quit spotting teams big leads,” Davis said. “For once I would like for us to play with a lead.”

Baxter led the Cardinals with 15 points, but his last basket came with 2:32 left in the third. J. Hale added 13, while Grubb contributed 11. Tanner Broughton led Barbourville with 14 points, while Hildebrand added 11 and Devin Mills, 10. Both teams hit eight threes in the game.

“Barbourville is a good club,” Davis said. “We knew Hildebrand is a terrific shooter, and we lost him on a few occasions. We didn’t pay attention to where he was. We also didn’t get back on defense quick enough. You can’t have empty possessions, and we shoot the ball too quickly. We need to learn when to turn down open looks to get easier shots. We need to move the ball better.”

When the Cards met the Tigers earlier in the season (a 73-71 South Laurel win in overtime), Broughton poured in 29 points. This time around, he was held in check with just 14, thanks in part to the defensive play by Lucas Hale.

“Lucas played a great game defensively for us,” Davis said.

The Cards only made four trips to the free throw line, connecting on all four. Barbourville struggled from the charity stripe, hitting just 7-of-20. Both teams were similar from the field, with South hitting 18-of-48 for 37.5 percent and the Tigers, 20-of-49 for 40.8 percent.

Another back-to-back set of games await the Cards this weekend. On Friday they host North Laurel. The 1982 Laurel County state champion team will be recognized at the half, and the teams are scheduled to wear throwback uniforms. Then on Saturday, South Laurel will pay a visit to George Rogers Clark, one of the top teams in the state.



Barbourville 55, South Laurel 48

South Laurel     12   5  19  12—48

Barbourville       14 16  14  11—55

SOUTH LAUREL (48)—Baxter 15, J. Hale 13, Grubb 11, Slavey 3, Rader 4, L. Hale 2.

BARBOURVILLE (55)—De. Mills 10, Rudd 6, Broughton 14, Hildebrand 11, Rose 2, Phipps 3, Da. Mills 9.

sports@sentinel-echo.com