LEXINGTON — North Laurel gave the state’s top-ranked team everything it could handle — and then some — before falling 46-44 to St. Xavier in Friday’s quarterfinal round of the UK HealthCare KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16.
“We knew what we were up against, but we felt like we had a chance,” North Laurel coach Nate Valentine said. “Our guys believed we could win, and we won three out of four quarters. I felt like we did a good job defensively, after their shooting performance on Wednesday. We held them to 2-of-11 from 3.”
The Jaguars (29-8) never led, but battled throughout and found themselves trailing just 37-36 with 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Kaiden Allen.
A dunk by Jordan Jackson, followed by a free throw, pushed the Tigers’ lead to 40-36 at the 2:06 mark.
North Laurel, however, refused to go away.
A layup by Corey Cunagin trimmed the deficit to 40-38 with 1:50 remaining, but two free throws by Jeremiah Jackson extended the lead to 42-38.
Reece Davidson answered with a free throw, cutting the deficit to 42-39 with 33 seconds left. St. Xavier’s Joshua Lindsay then knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Tigers a 44-39 advantage with 29 seconds remaining.
That’s when things got even more interesting.
A 3-pointer by Cooper Elza pulled North Laurel within 44-42 with 17 seconds left, and a turnover by St. Xavier’s Jermaine Cameron with 15 seconds remaining gave the Jaguars a chance to tie or take the lead.
Davidson drove to the basket, but his layup missed with seven seconds left. St. Xavier secured the rebound and sealed the win at the free-throw line, as Jackson hit both attempts.
Cunagin scored with one second remaining to provide the final score of 46-44.
“We just wanted to have a chance at the end,” Valentine said. “I told our guys if we were right there at the end, we can turn the crowd, and the basket is going to get smaller for them. “You give it to your best player with a chance to win the game — that’s all you can ask for,” he added. “He’s (Reece) carried us all year. He made the big one last year, and we wouldn’t change a thing. I’m just incredibly proud of these guys.”
Davidson led North Laurel with 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and one blocked shot. Allen added 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range along with four rebounds and two steals.
Cunagin finished with nine points, four rebounds, a block and a steal, while Jordan Rawlings chipped in six points and Elza added three points.
North Laurel trailed 12-4 at the end of the first quarter and 25-18 at halftime. The Jaguars entered the fourth quarter down 35-32.
North Laurel shot 17-of-41 from the field, including 5-of-15 from 3-point range. The Jaguars were outrebounded 22-20 and committed nine turnovers, five of which came in the opening quarter.
St. Xavier finished 16-of-32 from the field but was limited to just 2-of-11 from 3-point range after hitting 12-of-18 from beyond the arc in Wednesday’s win over Covington Catholic.
