Reed Sheppard stuffs stat sheet in round one win at WGM Holiday Classic
When opposing defenses zero-in on Reed Sheppard throughout an entire game, the highly-ranked Kentucky commit has to find other ways to make an impact.
His scoring as a high school junior has taken a dip compared to the 30 points per game he dropped as a sophomore, but the amount of double-teams has risen exponentially during that time. Sheppard is having to show off the entire bag of tricks he has at his fingertips, and the wins are still stacking up.
On Sunday night, in the opening round of the White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic hosted at Lexington Catholic High School, Sheppard couldn’t establish an offensive rhythm. He brought his No. 6 North Laurel squad into a matchup against a battle-tested Trinity team. Early on, the Shamrocks were doing everything to prevent Sheppard from beating them.
He was held to just four points (2-5 shooting) in the first half but countered that by getting his teammates involved to the tune of five assists. Trinity pressured Sheppard at the halfcourt line and brought double-teams on every pick-and-roll. It’s not anything he hasn’t seen at this point though.
After all, he prefers to get his teammates easy looks anyways.
“Not really, just because I’m not looking to score 30 or 40 every game,” Sheppard said after the game about whether or not double-teams frustrate him. “I like seeing my teammates get open and hit some shots. So if I can help my teammates get open, get shots, and we continue to win, I’m gonna be happy.”
North Laurel led 37-32 at the break. Sheppard’s Jaguar teammates, Clay Sizemore and Ryan Davidson, combined for 24 first-half points on 10-17 shooting.
That five-point lead evaporated quickly, though. Trinity rattled off a 22-13 third-quarter run–most of it coming in the final three minutes–to sneak ahead and take a four-point advantage of its own into the fourth frame. Just as it went down in the opening round at last weekend’s King of the Bluegrass tournament, North Laurel found itself in a fight down the stretch.
But Sheppard helped pull North Laurel through to the second round. His attacking mindset took over, which led to a few trips to the free-throw line and good looks at pull-up jumpers. A pair of big shots from Davidson and Brody Brock turned the tides in the closing minutes. North Laurel wound up sneaking away, sealing a 68-65 victory.
Sheppard powered the Jags with 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists, five steals, and five blocks on 6-14 shooting (0-6 from 3-point range). It’s the second time in the last week that he’s recorded a 5×5 statline.
He didn’t do it alone though. Davidson led North Laurel with 22 points in addition to 10 rebounds while Sizemore added 14 points. Brock contributed 12 points and six rebounds to round out the double-digit scorers. It was a collective team effort that saw everyone fight to the final whistle.
“We won because we kept fighting,” Sheppard added. “We guarded a little bit better at the end of the game and we kept running our offense and kept trusting ourselves.”
The win comes with another fast turnaround. North Laurel will be back in action on Monday night for second-round action against No. 13 Pleasure Ridge Park. That game will tipoff at 8:00 p.m. EST inside of Lexington Catholic. Tickets are $10 and a livestream is available through PrepSpin ($).
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