LEXINGTON — North Laurel gave the state’s top-ranked team everything it could handle — and then some — before falling 46-44 to St. Xavier in Friday’s quarterfinal round of the UK HealthCare KHSAA Boys’ Sweet 16.
“We knew what we were up against, but we felt like we had a chance,” North Laurel coach Nate Valentine said. “Our guys believed we could win, and we won three out of four quarters. I felt like we did a good job defensively, after their shooting performance on Wednesday. We held them to 2-of-11 from 3.”
The Jaguars (29-8) never led, but battled throughout and found themselves trailing just 37-36 with 5:39 remaining in the fourth quarter after a 3-pointer by Kaiden Allen…