The second meeting between South Laurel and Whitley County wasn’t as close as the first.
To be honest, it looked as if Jeff Davis’s Cardinals were looking for revenge after dropping a 57-56 overtime loss to the Colonels on Jan. 24.
South Laurel got just that on Friday, blowing past Whitley County with a 68-31 decision over the Colonels, marking the seventh time this season the Cardinals have held their opponents to less than 40 points.
“We played with more energy, played through things and we just were all talking and on the same page,” Davis said. “We didn’t do those things last time.”
The win locked up the 50th District’s No. 2 seed for South Laurel while the Colonels will be the No. 3 seed, meaning the two teams will battle once again come 50th District tournament time.
“We have to continue to get better and clean things up,” Davis said. “They are too good of a team and well-coached and we have to get better when we see them in the district.”
The Cardinals’ defensive play was suffocating throughout the contest. They limited Whitley County to only five field goals in the first half while building a 30-13 lead.
South Laurel outscored the Colonels, 38-18, in the second half to secure the win.
“South Laurel came out ready to prove a point,” Whitley County coach Eric Swords said. “They were physical all night, and gave us problems scoring. I didn’t like our mindset, our body language, effort or togetherness, and that is 100 percent on me. We will fix it. We are 16-8 and 10-3 in the region for a reason, we had been team first and playing all out for each other. We just got to block out all the noise and play for each other.”
Eli Gover led South Laurel with 19 points while Parker Payne had 14 points, and Jordan Mabe finished with 11 points. Caden Jones also scored in double figures, finishing with 10 points.
Ashton Reynolds led Whitley County with seven points.
The Cardinals will be back in action Saturday at 4:30 p.m. against Breathitt County while Whitley County will travel to play Williamsburg on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
