Kentucky signee Reed Sheppard finishes his high school career as the third all-time leading scorer in Kentucky. (Les Nicholson Photo)
It was not the ending Reed Sheppard wanted for his high school career but what a career he had. Defending state champion George Rogers Clark overwhelmed North Laurel 62-54 in the final first-round game at the state tournament Wednesday night. GRC once had a 20-point lead before a late North Laurel rally made the score more respectable.
Sheppard, a Kentucky signee and McDonald’s All-American, was spectacular in the first half when he kept the Jaguars in the game. He had 16 of his team’s 21 points on 5-for-8 shooting — 3-for-4 on 3’s and all deep. He also had two blocks, two steals, two assists and two rebounds but the rest of his teammates were a combined 2-for-15 from the field.
Sheppard finished the game with 23 points on 8-for-18 shooting along with seven assists, four steals, four rebounds and two blocks.
“It stinks right now,” Sheppard said after the game. “In the locker room hugging my teammates for the last time, you never want to do that. They are my best friends.
“It has been a heck of a ride. I could not ask for anything better. Coach (Nate) Valentine has been there through it all. North Laurel has been awesome to me and I could not ask for anything else.”
No one could. Think about this. He is the state’s third all-time leading scorer with 3,727 points — behind only the record-breaking 4,340 points by Lyon County junior Travis Perry and 4,337 of King Kelly Coleman. He finishes with 1,050 rebounds along with 1,214 assists — the second-best total in state history behind 1,352 by Michael Jones of Harlan from 1989-94.
If that’s not enough, he also has 653 steals — again the most in state history based on the Kentucky High School Athletic Association record book.
For his career, he was a 52 percent shooter from 2-point range and 37 percent from 3 despite being the focus of almost every team’s defense for three years. He averaged 22.59 points, 6.37 rebounds, 7.35 assists, and 3.98 steals per game in his career.
“Reed has just done a tremendous job for us,” North Laurel coach Nate Valentine said. “He could have gone and played at a lot of other places in the country, He chose to stay here and be loyal to North Laurel and the state of Kentucky. I can’t thank him enough.”
