LONDON — Eric Swords’ Whitley County Colonels controlled their own destiny heading into Tuesday’s 50th District showdown at South Laurel.
A win over the Cardinals would have secured the district’s top seed and forced South Laurel into a semifinal elimination matchup against Corbin in the 50th District Tournament. It also would have marked Whitley County’s first win at South Laurel since 2011 — the Colonels have now lost 17 straight at The Cardinals’ Nest.
The Colonels appeared in position to do just that, carrying a 40-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
But South Laurel rallied late, outscoring Whitley County down the stretch to claim a 54-49 come-from-behind victory.
With the win, the Cardinals (13-10) now control their own destiny at 4-1 in district play. A victory over Corbin on Thursday would clinch the 50th District’s top seed.
Corbin enters that matchup at 3-2 in district play while Whitley County finishes its district schedule at 4-2.
If Corbin defeats South Laurel, the result would create a three-way tie atop the district standings. In that scenario, the tiebreaker would be each team’s RPI rating at the end of the season. At press time, Whitley County’s RPI sits at .59847, South Laurel’s at .55555, and Corbin’s at .53045.
“Tough loss for us,” Swords said. “I thought our offense stalled late when they got into us. We have to do a better job executing in those situations and I got to do a better job in practice to help us with that.
“Love our guys and we will get better from this going forward,” he added. “When your program climbing sometimes you got to take one step back to take two steps forward.”
Jeff Davis’ Cardinals led throughout the first half before Whitley County rallied in the third quarter.
South Laurel’s defense turned it up a notch in the final eight minutes while Brayden Cassidy (six points), Kaiden McQueen (five points), and Brendan Murphy (five points) came up clutch in the fourth quarter to lead the come from behind win.
Cassidy led the way with 19 points while McQueen finished with 15 points.
“Really proud of our effort and resolve tonight,” Davis said. “We had some guys stepped up that we have needed to. We have to regroup and get ready for another big challenge on Thursday.”
Tootie Mahan led the Colonels with 18 points while Henry Bowling scored 15 points.
