HINDMAN — You know you’re a basketball team in trouble if the Harlan County Black Bears are your opponent and they have hit five 3-pointers in the opening four minutes and the guy wearing No. 2 has none of them.
That was the dilemma facing Letcher Central early in the opening game of the WYMT Mountain Classic on Monday at Knott Central High School. The Cougars were focusing on the Harlan County all-stater with a box-and-chaser, but it didn’t seem to matter as the Bears came out red hot. Senior forward Caleb Johnson hit four 3-pointers in the opening period while Maddox Huff added two and Jaycee Carter one in building a 31-9 lead on the way to a 73-36 victory.
The Bears won the game in the first quarter as their pressure led to 11 Letcher turnovers. HCHS turned the mistakes into layups and open 3s as they hit 12 of 20 shots overall, including seven of 12 from behind the 3-point line.
“If they can turn you over like that, it’s very hard to play with them,” Letcher Central coach Matt Taylor said. “They had some guys step up and hit shots, especially early in the game.”
Johnson scored a career-high 19 points to lead the 3-0 Black Bears. Noah and Huff added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
“We know we’ll see some junk defenses like that, but Caleb made them pay tonight,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “I thought we moved the ball well and got after them defensively.”
The Bears didn’t come back with the same intensity in the second quarter and pushed the lead to 48-21 at the break. Reggie Cottrell had two baskets to lead Harlan County in the period.
“We talked at halftime about how the defensive effort in the first quarter was great and we wanted to get back to that,” Jones said. “I know it’s hard to keep up the same intensity when you get a big lead. I did that sometimes when I played, but we want to keep getting better and we have to be able to put people away.”
Johnson and Carter each hit 3s in a 10-1 run to open the second half. Noah had two baskets, including a steal and dunk to start a running clock at the 4:15 mark as the lead grew to 58-23. Harlan County took a 64-26 advantage after three quarters as Jones gave his starters the fourth period off.
A three-point play by Brody Napier followed by a basket from Brady Freeman pushed the HCHS lead to 69-27 early in the fourth quarter. Cole Cornett and Mason Himes also had baskets for the Bears in the period.
Harlan County will play Martin County on Friday in the semifinals. The Cardinals advanced with a 54-48 win over Knott Central. Harlan will play Perry Central on Tuesday at 6:30 in.a rematch of last year’s championship game won by the Dragons. Clay County and first-year coach Michael Jones will play Floyd Central at 8 p.m.