HINDMAN — In a 37-point win Monday over Letcher Central in the opening round of the WYMT Mountain Classic, the Harlan County Black Bears didn’t need a super hero effort from all-state guard Trent Noah, who was one of four Bears in double figures with 14 points.
When defending 15th Region champ Martin County came out red hot in the semifinals on Friday, it soon became apparent that the Bears needed something extra from their star. Noah found a phone booth after the first quarter and did his best Superman impression in a 54-point, 18-rebound night as HCHS rolled into the finals with an 86-76 victory. Noah hit seven of 10 shots in the second period as Harlan County overcame an early deficit to take a 40-37 halftime lead.
“Letcher really focused on me the other night, and I have confidence in my teammates to let them do their thing,” Noah said. “Tonight they were guarding them, and I felt my teammates needed me to get a few buckets and I felt like I did.”
“I think everybody knows Trent can do that, and he picked a good time tonight,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “Martin County is a really talented team with a lot of offensive weapons. They were in the state tournament last year and the state All ‘A’ Classic with four starters back. It was a very tough game for us.”
Martin County (2-2) led by as many as five points in the second quarter as junior guard Luke Hale scored 13 of his 33 points in the period. Senior guard Dray Duff and senior forward Brayden McKenzie added 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Harlan County (4-0) got 12 points from senior forward Caleb Johnson, who hit two clutch 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Sophomore guard Reggie Cottrell added eight points and came up with a couple of crucial blocks in the closing minutes.
“We changed our defense up in the second quarter and put a little pressure on them. Maddox (Huff) and Reggie got some hands on passes and got some easy buckets and got us going,” Jones said. “It seemed every time we got a lead, they would hit a big shot, and good teams do that.”
Noah hit eight of 11 shots in the third quarter as the Bears’ lead grew to 69-57.
Martin fought back to within five midway through the fourth quarter as the Bears struggled against the Martin press, turning the ball over seven times in the period.
“It was physical, and we have to do a better job of taking care of basketball. That’s something we’ll get better at as the season goes on,” Jones said.
Johnson’s third 3-pointer with 3:30 left pushed the HCHS lead back to eight, Noah had a basket and four free throws to put the game away and earn the Bears a spot in Saturday’s championship game against Perry Central.
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Noah passed Cawood’s Blake Hubbs for third on the all-time scoring list with his 14 points against Letcher Central on Monday. He passed Harlan’s Jordan Akal for second on Friday and now has 2,673 points, trailing only Harlan all-stater and 1995 Mr. Basketball Charles Thomas, who scored 3,365 points.
