With more drama than professional wrestling and a run-and-gun style that had the look of an NBA All-Star Game, the Harlan County Black Bears said goodbye to three seniors before entertaining another large crowd with a 109-89 win over visiting Knox Central. The game featured plenty of hard fouls and four technicals, including one each against the two head coaches who argued briefly in the first half.
The Bears topped the 30-point mark in each of the first three quarters before coach Kyle Jones gave his starters the rest of the night off. Maddox Huff hit 12 of 15 shots and finished with 33 points while Trent Noah added 31 while teaming for several lobs and dunks on a night when offenses ruled.
“Maddox is capable of doing that every night, and so is Trent. The key for us is getting other people to contribute as we have the last couple of weeks. That’s what we need to take us to another level,” Jones said. “We didn’t play defense as we normally do. We had a lot of energy and wanted to play well for our seniors and the crowd we had tonight.”
Reggie Cottrell and Jaycee Carter each added 10 points for the 25-4 Bears.
Grayson Burton paced the 18-9 Panthers with 19 points. Gavin Chadwell and Trevor Jordan added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Harlan County hit 13 of 21 shots in the first quarter to build a 32-14 lead as Noah had four baskets and Huff added three. The Panthers outscored HCHS 32-30 in the second period as Mills hit five of five shots and Chadwell connected on four of five. Noah had four baskets for the Bears while Huff connected on three 3-pointers.
Huff hit six of seven shots in the third quarter while Noah hit five of seven as the Bears outscored Knox Central 35-24.
Harlan County will close its regular-season schedule Thursday at Whitley County. Knox Central will play host to Buckhorn on Friday.