LONDON — Corbin opened 50th District play with a hard-fought 48–42 win over South Laurel on Tuesday, improving to 6–7 overall and 1–0 against district opponents. The Cardinals slipped to 8–8 on the season and 0–1 in district action.
Corbin jumped out to an early lead, taking an 18–11 advantage after the first quarter behind eight points from Trey Person.
South Laurel answered in the second quarter, outscoring the Redhounds 11–2 to take a 22–20 lead into halftime.
Isaiah Robinson knocked down a three-pointer in the period, while Brayden Lamon, Brendon Murphy, Brayden Cassidy, and Kaden Taylor each added a basket.
The Cardinals continued to battle in the third quarter with Garrison Brown scoring five points and Taylor hitting a three-pointer to help South Laurel hold a slim 36–34 edge heading into the fourth quarter.
Corbin responded in the final eight minutes, getting four points apiece from Clay Atkins, Person, and Evan Ellis to rally for the win.
Ellis and Person led the Redhounds with 14 points each while Eli Pietrowski and Lucas Brittain added six points apiece.
South Laurel was led by Kaden Taylor, who finished with a game-high 20 points while knocking down six three-pointers. Brown added five points for the Cardinals.
Corbin coach Tony Pietrowski said he was proud of his team’s effort and preparation.
“Excellent win for our team tonight,” he said. “South has one of the best defensive teams on our schedule. I thought other than the second quarter we played against it fairly well. We have a great stretch of practices leading into tonight. I’m proud of my kid for putting in the work and then transferring it over to the floor.
“Trey Person stepped up tonight and made a bunch of winning plays,” Pietrowski added. “Evan stayed within himself when they showed him extra attention. Clay, Keaton and Eli made some huge hustle plays, worked on the boards and finished late in the game when we needed them. Very happy to get the win, but we have plenty of work to do.”
South Laurel coach Jeff Davis credited Corbin for making plays down the stretch while pointing to areas his team must improve.
“We didn’t execute when we needed, we made mistakes at crucial times and just didn’t get to spots we needed to,” he said. “Give Corbin credit, they made the plays when they needed to. We have to have better focus, pay attention to details and just do the simple fundamental things that should be easy at this level.”
