CORBIN — In his 14-year tenure as coach of the South Laurel Cardinals, Jeff Davis has had a unique skill in finding ways to shut down potent offenses.
The Cardinals did just that Thursday in the opening round of the 13th Region Tournament against Bell County, one of the state’s top shooting teams in the regular season. Bell hit 12 of 38 (32 percent) shots from the field and connected on only two of six from behind the 3-point line in falling 59-43 to the Cardinals.
“Their length really bothered us,” Bell County coach Brad Sizemore said. “I thought our kids played hard. We had several chances in the third quarter to really cut into the lead. We had four or five possessions we couldn’t get a bucket even though we were right there at the rim. I’m proud of these guys. I think we’ve gotten a lot better. South Laurel is a good team and will be a hard out for somebody in the next round.”
Senior forward Jordan Mabe led the Cardinals on offense with 22 points, but was even more valuable on defense as he limited Bell County star Blake Burnett to eight points on one-of-eight shooting.
“They are really good, and it’s a tough defend for us with Burnett, Buell, Thomas and Hall,” Davis said. “It makes it tough to defend that, but I thought our guys really did a great job in communicating on where those guys were. They got downhill some on us in the second half, but I think our length was able to negate some of that.”
Senior guard Colton Rawlings provided a valuable 3-point threat for South with 12 points on four-of-seven from the 3-point line. Josh Steele, also a senior guard, added 10 points for the 25-8 Cardinals.
Bell County was led by senior guard Cameron Hall with 11 points. Hall is the only senior on the Bell roster, setting the stage for a veteran squad returning next year that will be ranked among the region’s top three teams in the preseason.
“Cameron Hall has been great for us the last three years. He’s really grown as a person and player. He’s done a lot of good things for us and will be hard to replace,” Sizemore said. “We have to continue to work at it and see if we can take the next step for next year.”
Bell was among the hottest teams in the region most of the season before closing the year with two straight losses.
“I think we’ve been playing well. We just ran into probably the two best teams in this region,” Sizemore said. “We hadn’t beaten Harlan County in several seasons going into the year. We really took a jump to get on that level and compete with those guys. We played those guys four times, and it’s hard to beat a team three times in a row. Then you come in as a runner-up and get a tough draw. We thought going into the game we were really prepared. Our kids have been working hard. We missed a lot of shots at the basket and free throws. I think their size and length had a lot to do with it. I don’t think it had anything to do with us peaking.”
South Laurel advances to the semifinals Saturday to play the Pineville/Clay County winner at 2:30 p.m.
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South Laurel (59) — Colton Rawlings 12, Josh Steele 10, Kaiden McQueen 2, Jordan Mabe 22, Max Fullmer 6, Garrison Brown 3, Brendan Murphy 2, Blaine Baker 2.
Bell County (43) — Cameron Hall 11, Blake Burnett 8, Jaxon Thomas 7, Cayden Huff 5, Ethan Buell 9, Braxton Ferguson 3.

Bell County 6 11 12 14 — 43
South Laurel 12 16 12 19 — 59