Reed Sheppard shines, earns MVP at 2021 King of the Bluegrass tournament

Over the last several days, Kentucky Men’s Basketball commit Reed Sheppard had the opportunity to defend his reputation as the top basketball player in the Bluegrass State. Since choosing the Wildcats last month, this was his first high-profile stretch of games–and his North Laurel squad stared down a tough potential run to a title.

Playing in front of droves of Kentucky fans, Sheppard put on a show.

One by one, Sheppard and the Jaguars picked off a group of very different challenges. In spite of a quick turnaround in travel, North Laurel snuck out of the first round against Eastern. Sheppard played a bit too over eager with his aggressiveness, turning the ball over 11 times but still finished with 15 points and 14 assists. “We won,” is how he summed up the victory.

Round two saw a young and confident North Oldham team give North Laurel a run for its money, but Sheppard was on fire. His 45 points on 15-23 shooting (15-17 from the charity stripe) were just enough to earn a tightly contested victory.

In the semifinals, the top-ranked team out of South Carolina, Dorman, had no answer for Sheppard. Despite North Laurel being overmatched in size, Sheppard dropped 34 as he went toe-to-toe with the Dorman bigs. It wasn’t until the title matchup against Covington Catholic, arguably the best team in KY, that the overall opposing talent finally overpowered Sheppard.

He dropped a triple-double in the championship game en route to winning Most Valuable Player for the entire tournament. North Laurel ultimately fell 79-67, but would have lost by 40-plus had Sheppard not played.

Over the four-game tournament stretch, Sheppard averaged 29.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 8.3 assists, 6.3 steals, and 2.0 blocks per outing. His 6.5 turnovers left some to be desired, but taking up ~85 percent of a team’s possessions will do that. A shooting split of 56.2/34.8/87.9 on such high usage speaks volumes to his efficiency.

MVP of King of the Bluegrass: Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard. pic.twitter.com/9AiyiJtuI6

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) December 22, 2021

If you missed out on watching Sheppard this time around, you won’t have to wait much longer for a second chance. North Laurel will participate in another high-caliber tournament, the White, Greer & Maggard Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic High School from Dec. 26-29.

North Laurel will begin its run the day after Christmas against Trinity (Louisville) at 7:00 p.m. EST.