On a rainy Thursday night in the Gem City, the Pineville Mountain Lions defeated the Harlan Green Dragons 76-61 in a tightly contested affair between the longstanding Class A rivals.
Harlan played without all five starters, Senior guard Kyler McLendon missed his third game with an ankle injury. Trent Cole, Dylan Cox, Nate Montanaro and Darius Akal all missed the game due to illness.
Sawyer Thompson and Ashton Moser lead the 19-9 Lions with 24 points each. Logunn Littles added 16.
Eighth-grade guard Jaxson Perry led the 6-20 Dragons with 22 points. Hunter Clem added 10.
Both teams move on to their district tournaments next week. Pineville will face home-standing Lynn Camp on Wednesday night at 7. Harlan will play Bell County at Harlan County on Tuesday at 7:30.
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Pineville (76) — Sawyer Thompson 24, Ashton Moser 24, Kaiden Robbins 6, Anderson Gentry 2, Zander Garrison 2, Wyatt Caldwell 2, Logunn Littles 16.
Harlan (61) — Hunter Clem 10, Matthew Pennington 6, Jaxson Perry 22, Jared Moore 9, Eric Evans 3, Izack Saylor 6, Eli Noe 5.

Harlan 16 18 15 12 — 61
Pineville 20 19 22` 15 — 76
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In unreported action, the Lions fell Tuesday night at Corbin 86-49.
Sawyer Thompson led the Lions with 22 points. Wyatt Caldwell added nine. Kaiden Robbins scored eight.
Eli Pietrowski led the 17-8 Redhounds with 14 points. Zander Curry and Ryder Akins added 13 each. Lucas Brittian tossed in 11, while Trey Worley scored 10.
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Corbin (86) — Eli Pietrowski 14, Zander Curry 13, Ryder Akins 13, Lucas Brittian 11, Trey Worley 10, Carter Stewart 9, Connor Middleton 6, Noah Cima 4, Trey Blaylock 4, Trey Person 2.
Pineville (49) — Sawyer Thompson 22, Wyatt Caldwell 9, Kaiden Robbins 8, Logunn Littles 4, Ashton Moser 3, Anderson Gentry 2, Preston Zachery 1.