Basketball Recap: Shepherd Comes Up Short

Shepherd played a tough contest on Tuesday in which they were outscored in every quarter. They were beaten by the Livingston Lions 85-42. The defeat continues a trend for the Pirates in their meetings with the Lions: they've now lost eight in a row.

Benjamin Coyle

Points

02/10/26 vs Livingston	19
02/03/26 vs Liberty	17
12/16/25 vs Coldspring-Oakhurst	17
01/28/26 vs Tarkington	15
01/13/26 vs Hargrave	13
+ 27 more games

Despite the loss, Shepherd still got an impressive performance from Benjamin Coyle, who posted 19 points. The Pirates are 3-1 when Coyle posts 15 or more points, but 8-24 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Brayden White, who almost dropped a double-double with ten points and nine boards.

Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Livingston to victory, but perhaps none more so than Ziekus Garner, who dropped a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The matchup was Garner's fifth in a row with at least 16 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Cruz Julian, who almost dropped a double-double with 22 points and nine boards.

Shepherd's loss dropped their record down to 11-25. As for Livingston, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 15 of their last 16 games. That's provided a nice bump to their 25-5 record this season.

We've got plenty of inter-district action coming up soon. Shepherd is set to challenge their familiar foe Hardin-Jefferson at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, Livingston will take on rival Tarkington at 7:00 p.m. on Friday.