In a rebuilding 2023-2024 season, the Harlan Green Dragons and coach Derrick Akal know there will be plenty of learning experiences before the postseason begins in late February. A matchup against Mason County on Thursday afternoon in the second day of play at the Dribble Drive Challenge at South Laurel provided an especially painful lesson on protecting a lead.
The Green Dragons played as well as they have all season through two and a half quarters, building a 54-31 lead on a three-point play by senior forward Matthew Pennington with 5:46 left in the third quarter. A flurry of turnovers and bad shots by the Dragons and improved shooting by the Royals led a perfect storm for a big comeback as Mason closed the period with a 26-4 run to pull within one, then stretched the spurt to 33-6 into the fourth quarter on the way to a 75-70 victory.
“We missed shots, but we didn’t get stops either. If you’re not making shots, you better get some stops. They started hitting some tough shots also,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “We turned the ball over some also, so it was a combination of things. We probably took a few shots we shouldn’t have taken early. Taking those shots and missing them got them out in transition.”
Senior guard Braylon Hamilton came off the bench to lead the 6-2 Royals with 16 points, sparking the second-half run as he hit five of six shots during the comeback. Landon Scilley and Jake Feldhaus added 13 and 11 points, respectively.
McLendon scored 34 and freshman guard Trent Cole added 18 to lead the 1-5 Green Dragons.
The Dragons hit six 3-pointers in the opening quarter, including three by McLendon, to take a 22-19 lead. McLendon had five of Harlan’s seven baskets in the second quarter as the lead grew to 42-29 at halftime as Mason hit only three of 11 shots and turned the ball over five times.
McLendon hit two 3s, Cole added one and Pennington had a three-point play in a 12-2 run to start the second half, but the Dragons had only two baskets the remainder of the quarter.
“The key for us is getting better every night, and I thought we played better tonight than we did last night,” Akal said. “We’ll learn how to win. We have three guys who just came out a week ago, so I think we’ll improve on some things over the next few games.”
Harlan will play Greenwood on Friday at 2:15 in the seventh-place game of the tournament.