When the Harlan Green Dragons were preparing for the state tournament in 1964, the first for a Harlan County team since the Wah Wah Jones teams 19 years earlier, the focus was on the defending state champion Seneca Red Devils and star forward Wes Unseld.
As the current Harlan County Black Bears prepare for this week’s state tournament, the focus is on defending state champ Warren Central. The Dragons are coached by William Unseld, the cousin of the former Seneca star who went on to play at the University of Louisville and then for the Baltimore/Washington Bullets. William’s son, Kade, is an all-state senior guard for Warren Central.
The 1964 Harlan squad was led by senior Charles Tabb, who had played the previous season for Rosenwald and coach E.R. “Doc” Gray in the last year before integration. Tabb, at 6-3, and Mason Horn, at 6-5, moved on to Harlan the next year and joined a lineup that included point guard Joe Baker, guard Tom Selvey and forward Charlie Rutledge. Harlan and coach Bill Criscillis beat Wallins in the 52nd District Tournament at Loyall before falling 62-57 to Lynch and coach Ed Miracle in the district finals. The Dragons bounced back to defeat McKee 81-30 and Knox Central 61-58 in the regional tournament at Bell County before defeating Lynch 70-60 in the rematch in the regional finals.
“It was a happening, Harlan not been to state since the Wah Wah Jones teams,” said former Harlan Daily Enterprise sports writer Chris Jones, who later played with the Dragons in their trip to the state tournament in 1969. “It was an afternoon game on a sunny day and most of the Harlan people were there at Memorial Coliseum.”
Seneca rolled to a 63-36 win over Harlan, then defeated Covington Grant, Hazard and Breckinridge County to capture a second straight state title.
———
No one in Harlan County has more playing experience in Sweet Sixteen games than former Harlan guard Casey Lester, who was a starter on the 1993, 1995 and 1996 13th Region championship squads. The Dragons advanced to the second round in both 1993 and 1996 and made it to the final four in 1995. Lester went on to coach at Harlan after finishing his playing career at Berea College and now is a teacher at James A. Cawood Elementary School and stays involved with basketball as an official for county middle school basketball games.
“You have to prepare like you are just playing another game,” Lester said. “The awe of running out and playing at Rupp is amazing, but after that initial moment I feel like you prepare like you have all season.”
———
Harlan County coach Kyle Jones was a freshman starter on that 1996 team that defeated Henderson County in the first round on a team coached by his father, Mike Jones.
He made it to the state tournament in only his second season of coaching. Jones’ dad won four regional titles and his brother, Michael, led the Bears to their first state tournament appearance in 2017.
The 13th Region drew one of the toughest opponents against the 4th Region champ, but a Bowling Green team that bear the Bears earlier this season in the King of the Bluegrass Classic was upset in the regional finals by Warren Central. While HC is considered a slight favorite in the ratings, Jones knows taking on a defending state championship team is never easy.
“Warren Central is the defending state champs with two returning starters off that team,” Jones said. “Their record (17-12) is very deceiving due to the fact one of the top returning players in the state and Western Kentucky commit Kade Unseld was out the first half of the season with an injury. The keys to us having a chance to win this game against a state power is handling their pressure and playing even or better with them on the boards because they have really good size.”
Senior guards Kade Unseld (15.7 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game) and Elijah Starks (17.0 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game) lead the 17-11 Dragons, followed by senior guards Drevin Batton (14.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and Cadin Hammer (7.4 ppg, 1.6 rpg) and junior guard Jarek Kirk (4.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg).
The 31-4 Bears are led by senior guard Trent Noah (29.7 ppg, 10.5 rpg) and junior guard Maddox Huff (17.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg). Sophomore guard Reggie Cottrell (8.8 ppg, 3.5 rpg), junior center Jaycee Carter (8.6 peg, 5.3 rpg) and senior forward Caleb Johnson (6.5 ppg, 3.3 rpg) round out the lineup, with junior guard Brody Napier (3.2 ppg, 1.7 rpg) serving as the sixth man.