GATLINBURG, TENN. — North Laurel suffered its second loss of the season after seeing Miami Southridge High School’s O’Cien Valdes hit six 3-pointers while scoring a game-high 24 points during his team’s 59-50 win over the Jaguars during Friday’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Classic.
“We dug ourselves in too big of a hole early,” North Laurel coach Nate Valentine said. “We fought back and got it back to six in the fourth quarter and couldn’t get over the hump. Credit Southridge for going 9-of-12 from 3 in the first half. I thought we did a decent job pushing them off the line and getting a contest but they still made shots. We just had too many empty possessions offensively.”
North Laurel (6-2) trailed 13-7 at the end of the first quarter but a 20-7 run by Miami Southridge allowed them to build a comfortable, 37-21, halftime lead.
The Jaguars got back into the game in the third quarter, hitting on 11-of-12 free throw attempts to cut their deficit to 45-39 entering the fourth quarter.
Valdes scored eight points in the final eight minutes while Miami Southridge hit all eight of its free throw attempts to secure the win.
Jordan Rawlings continued to have the hot-hand, leading North Laurel with 18 points while hitting five 3-pointers. Reece Davidson finished with 16 points while RJ Noble had six points.
