PIKEVILLE — A Harlan County winning streak that started in December didn’t survive until February, thanks to an inspired effort Tuesday from the Pikeville Panthers and a bad night of shooting by the Black Bears.
Senior center Charlie Fitzer tipped in the winning shot at the buzzer as the Panthers edged visiting HCHS 62-60 to break a 10-game winning streak that stretched back to a loss to Kell, Ga., In the Arby’s Classic in Bristol, Tenn.
“This was huge,” Pikeville coach Elisha Justice said. “Take nothing a way from Harlan County. They are still one of the best teams in the state. I think we’ve had defense going for us each and every night, but sometimes we didn’t shoot as well. We tell our guys we want to win even when we don’t shoot well and you do that by playing good defense. They get up to play teams like this. (Harlan County guard) Trent Noah is going to do what he does, but we did a good job of making it tough.”
“I told the kids in the locker room that there are positives when you lose, Maybe it was time for us to get one because we might need to be humbled a little bit,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “Pikeville played us real physical. There was a lot of contact in this game. I thought one positive was we guarded their tails off the second half and played just as physical as they did. We’re not going to hang our heads. I didn’t go in yelling or screaming. We’ll go watch film on this tomorrow and get back to work Wednesday.”
The Bears shot only 36 percent (20 of 56) and missed 17 of 21 attempts from beyond the 3-point line.
“I don’t know if we struggled to score, but we struggled more than we have,” Jones said. “You’re not always going to score 80, 90 points. We didn’t shoot the ball well.”
Fitzer, at 6-foot-8, caused the Bears problems around the basket with his length.
“He’s been doing that for us all year. He will block some shots, but the ones he doesn’t block he will change,” Justice said, “He gives us a presence in the paint.”
Noah scored 26 and Maddox Huff added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Bears. Reggie Cottrell had nine points and nine rebounds.
Junior guard Ian Onkst scored 24 points to lead the 12-4 Panthers, hitting three 3-pointers in the second quarter as Pikeville took a two-point halftime lead.
“He hit some tough shots,” Justice said. “When he saw one or two go in the basket it kind of got him going, He’s a guy who plays on confidence and that basket started getting bigger to him.”
Pikeville led by as many as eight points in the third quarter before Noah reeled off six straight points to cut the deficit to 49-46.
HCHS appeared to finally take control when Brody Napier hit a 3-pointer to break a tie and then Noah hit one of two at the line for a 56-52 lead with 3:41 tp play. Onkst and Eli Johnson, who finished with 17 points, hit back-to-back 3s to put the Panthers back on top. Jaycee Carter pulled the Bears even, then Johnson and Huff traded baskets before Pikeville held for the last shot. Johnson missed from the outside, but Fitzer, who finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds, was there for the tip in as the final second ticked away.
Harlan County returns to action Saturday in the Jock Sutherland Classic at Lafayette in a 6 p.m. game against Frederick Douglass.
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Brayden Boldon scored 14 points and Brody Little added 10 to lead Pikeville to a 44-38 victory in junior varsity action.
Brennan Blevins led the Bears with 12 points. Landon Brock scored 10. Brody Freeman chipped in with six. Bryson Bryant and Gunnar Johnson added four each. Shemar Carr scored two.