All season long, Jeff Davis’ South Laurel Cardinals’ have been known for their defensive play, and Tuesday’s matchup against 51st District runner-up Pineville during first round action of the 13th Region Tournament wasn’t any different.
His team entered the contest as the region’s stingiest team in points allowed at 49.2 points per game, and the Mountain Lions saw first-hand just how good the Cardinals are as South Laurel cruised to an easy, 70-44, win.
“I thought we were focused at the beginning defensively,” Davis said. “I thought we lost some of that focus coming out in the second half. We had some guys come off the bench that didn’t create any drop off. We’ve got to be focused all four quarters.”
The Cardinals will now switch their focus to Saturday’s semifinal matchup against cross-town rival North Laurel, who needed a 3-pointer by Ryan Davidson with 2.2 seconds remaining to defeat Harlan, 55-52, earlier Tuesday.
The two teams have met twice this season with the Jaguars coming away with wins of 66-52, and 63-46.
“We have to play four quarters,” Davis said. “We can’t have scoring droughts. We also can’t let them jump out to a 19-0 lead. They’re the favorite, and it will be a tall challenge. Hopefully, we will have two days of prep, and our guys will be ready for the challenge.”
Against Pineville, South Laurel was efficient on both ends of the floor, connecting on 30-of-50 shot attempts, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. The Cardinals also forced the Mountain Lions into 16 turnovers while outrebounding Pineville, 25-15.
The Mountain Lions hit 16-of-35 shot attempts from the floor, including a 2-of-7 effort from behind the arc.
Eli Gover led the way with 22 points on a 9-of-13 shooting effort which included going 4-of-7 from long range. Caden Jones scored 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting while Jordan Mabe finished with 14 points, five rebounds, four blocks, and three steals while hitting 7-of-9 shot attempts. Parker Payne scored eight points, led the team with eight assists while adding four rebounds, three steals, and one block.
Sawyer Thompson led Pineville with 21 points while Sam Caldwell added 12 points.
South Laurel wasted little time taking control against a Pineville team that hadn’t won a region tournament game since 2012.
The Cardinals’ defensive play lived up to its billing in the first half, limiting the Mountain Lions to only 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting from floor.
South Laurel, on the otherhand, was dominant in all fashions of the game, building a 36-13 halftime lead behind, 17-of-29, shooting from the floor while forcing Pineville into 11 first half turnovers.
The Cardinals received an impressive balanced attack with Mabe hitting 5-of-6 shot attempts for 10 points while pulling down four rebounds. He also had three blocked shots, and three steals. Jones, and Payne each had eight points apiece while Giver had seven points, and Ashton Garland delivered three points.
South Laurel is now 22-10 overall in the 13th Region Tournament while Pineville falls to 5-19.
