Led by one of the 13th Region’s elite players, the Harlan Green Dragons are still a dangerous opponent despite their struggles through the first two months of the regular season.
With Kyler McLendon exploding for 46 points and several other Dragons coming through with timely contributions, the Dragons knocked off visiting Breathitt County, the defending 14th Region champions, in a 98-92 shootout Monday.
“This was a big win for this particular group. We’ve struggled all year, but we’ve played a tough schedule,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “Obviously, it was our best offensive night of the season. We were efficient tonight and shared the ball. This was Kyler’s best 40-point game. He didn’t have to force anything, and got contributions from Nate. Matthew (Pennington) made some big 3s, and Trenton (Cole) did also before he fouled out. It was a team effort. To give up 92 points and still win, we must have had a good offensive night.”
Breathitt County had a hard time stopping McLendon off the dribble, leading to numerous layups and open 3s for his teammates when he wasn’t finishing.
“We’ve had that problem all year long. In the games we’ve lost, we’ve had trouble against smaller, quicker teams getting to the rim on us,” Breathitt County coach Jeff Honeycutt said. “I’m proud of the way my guys fought back. They were within or two possessions. Harlan played well. I told the guys when we got here that they are not a typical 4-11 team. They’ve played a lot of close games. They shot the ball extremely tonight. They hit some big shots. We play a lot of good teams, and sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but this was a good tournament atmosphere, and that’s what we want.”
Harlan’s lead was four after one quarter, eight at halftime, 11 after three quarters and 17 with 6:22 left after the second of two Matthew Pennington 3-pointers. Breathitt hit 12 of 15 shots in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter to battle from behind. Payton Collins came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers, while Austin Spery added four baskets in five shots.
“Every time they got open they made some shots. I’m thankful we had enough of a lead to overcome that,” Akal said.
The Dragons’ lead was at six with 53 seconds left when a crucial call went against Breathitt. Sperry, the 14th Region’s top-rated player and a leader in last year’s run to the Sweet Sixteen, was involved in a skirmish with Harlan’s Nate Montanaro on the free throw line after McLendon hit the second of two free throws. Sperry was on the ground for several seconds, then was assessed a technical when he got up and apparently said something to an official after no foul was called. McLendon hit one of two at the line to all but seal the victory.
Sperry scored 22 to lead the 12-7 Bobcats. Canaan Gross added 18, followed by Jaxon Hamilton with 14 and Braxton Terry with 13.
Cole and Montanaro added 18 and 16 points, respectively, for the 5-11 Green Dragons.
“We had better spacing tonight. We’ve struggled with that all year,” Akal said. “The lane looked more open tonight. Even when our guys were driving, you could tell it wasn’t as clogged as it has been.”
The Green Dragons will play their second straight 14th Region opponent on Wednesday against Knott Central and coach Casey Huff, a former Harlan player.
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Breathitt County took control in the third quarter by outscoring the Dragons 24-6 on the way to a 61-41 win in junior varsity action.
Freshman guard Payton Collins scored 16 to lead a balanced Breathitt attack. Brantlee Campbell and Aaron Stallard, both junior guards, added 14 and 11 points, respectively. Joseph Honeycutt and Josh Combs each scored nine. Wyatt Spencer added two.
Eighth-grade guard Jaxson Perry led the 0-3 Dragons with 12 points. Izack Saylor scored 10, followed by Eric Evans with eight, Dillon Combs with six, Will Shepherd with three and Eli Noe with two.