Stacey Reed Sheppard, mother of North Laurel sophomore Reed Sheppard, talked with Ashland sophomore point guard Colin Porter before Friday's game won 86-66 by Ashland. Porter had 14 points and 14 assists while Reed Sheppard had 34 points and six assists. (Larry Vaught Photo)
Today was supposed to be a showdown between unbeaten Lexington Catholic and North Laurel, the state’s top two ranked teams. The CW Lexington is going to televise the game at Lexington Catholic at 2 p.m. and the live stream will be on Prep Spin.
Well, the game is still on but now neither team is unbeaten. That ended Friday night when Dunbar beat host Catholic 67-57 and then in the second game Ashland hammered North Laurel 86-66 behind an incredible 37-point performance from Ethan Sellars. He was 14 of 21 from the field overall and in the first half, he was 10 of 15, including 6-for-7 from 3, when he had 26 points — just one less than high scoring North Laurel had.
Ashland was more physical and its defense disrupted much of North Laurel’s normally potent offense. Ashland forced 15 turnovers, including 10 in the first half. Ashland also had a terrific shooting game as it went 15 of 26 — 57.7 percent — from 3-point range and also got easy shots in transition often.
Sophomore guard Colin Porter had 14 points and 14 assists along with four steals and two rebounds. Cole Villars added 19 points and five assists as Ashland had 24 assists on its 32 field goals.
North Laurel sophomore Reed Sheppard finished with 34 points, six assists, five rebounds, one block, and one steal. He also had six turnovers against Ashland’s disruptive defense. He was 11 of 18 from the field and 10 of 11 at the foul line.
Ashland is now 13-4 going into this afternoon’s game against Dunbar. Ashland has lost to Highlands, Bowling Green (83-57), Covington Catholic (71-62), and Simon Kenton (87-85).
North Laurel (19-1) had scored under 82 points just twice previously and had nine games over 90 points. This was its second lowest-scoring game of the season (the lowest was 64 in a 15-point win over South Laurel). North’s best win was 89-87 over Covington Catholic early in the season.
Dunbar was down 39-31 early in the second half but controlled the rest of the game. Tim Hall was dominating inside with 23 points and 19 rebounds. Nick Spalding controlled the offensive flow/pace and had 25 points, including three 3’s.
Dunbar (10-4) had lost to Catholic 69-67 on Feb. 25.
Friday night was just an early indication that March Madness is here and could make the next few weeks really fun and interesting.
