MANCHESTER — Nate Valentine’s North Laurel Jaguars reign supreme for the second straight year in the 49th District while capturing their seventh district championship in nine years by defeating Clay County, 56-46, during Thursday’s title game.
“I’m very proud of our guys for finding a way to make winning plays down the stretch,” Valentine said. “We got an early lead and were able to hang on. Credit to Clay County for fighting back. This was a good one for us to get a road win. We’re excited to head to the draw Saturday and see what next week holds.”
North Laurel (25-7) took advantage of a slow start by the Tigers (20-9), and never looked back in the win.
The Jaguars led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter, and 33-15 at halftime before Clay County slowly began to chip away at its deficit.
The Tigers cut North Laurel’s lead to 48-40 with under four minutes to go in the fourth quarter before Cooper Elza snapped the Jaguars’ five-minute scoring drought with 2:53 remaining to give his team a 50-40 edge. Elza added another basket 30 seconds later to secure the win for North Laurel.
Reece Davidson led North Laurel with 22 points while Elza finished with 11 points. Kaiden Allen and Corey Cunagin both finished with seven points apiece while Jordan Rawlings scored five points. RJ Noble finished with four points.
Jacob Rogers led the Tigers with 23 points while Aiden Wagers finished with 20 points and Jay Nicholson chipped in three points.
