HAZARD — Facing a three-point deficit with 80 seconds left Saturday in the D.J. Begley Classic at Memorial Gym after the 15th and final 3-pointer of the night by the Betsy Layne Bobcats, Harlan County was looking straight into the barrel of its first loss of the 2024-2025 season.
That’s when Harlan County senior guard Maddox Huff decided he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Huff went on a personal 9-2 run against the Bobcats to help HCHS escape with an 82-78 win and a 3-0 record.
“Everybody knows Maddox is our go-to guy,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “He came over there late in the game and he said he wanted the ball. I like that confidence. We have confidence in him. He made big plays and big free throws and iced it for us.”
Huff drew a foul on a 3-point attempt with 1:08 left and hit all three free throws to pull the Bears even. After he and Reggie Cottrell teamed to force a turnover, Huff scored off a drive. Huff scored again after another turnover for a four-point lead. After Betsy Layne’s Cameron Pente scored to cut the deficit to two with 5.7 seconds left, the Bears got the ball in to Huff who drew a foul and hit both shots to close the scoring.
After a 49-point performance a night earlier against Corbin, Huff followed with a 39-point, 11-rebound effort against the Bobcats. Cottrell added 14 points, while Trent Cole tossed in 11, Brody Napier added 10 and Jaycee Carter chipped in with eight points and nine rebounds.
Pente scored 30 points and Carter Parsons added 29 to lead a sharp-shooting Bobcats’ offense that produced 15 treys in 27 attempts.
“They beat Johnson Central, and Johnson Central is a preseason top five team, so I knew they had a good team,” Jones said. “They had two really good guards some guys around them. We didn’t do a good job guarding the dribble today, and that’s something we have to get better at. We were leaving people wide open.”
HCHS appeared headed toward a blowout in the opening three minutes, racing to a 16-3 lead as Cole, Cottrell and Huff had two baskets each. Parsons brought the Bobcats back by hitting six of seven 3-point attempts to pull his team even at 24-all heading into the second quarter.
Huff had three baskets in the second quarter to help the Bears take a 46-43 halftime lead.
Cole helped shut Parsons down in the second half, limiting him to one-of-five shooting.
“I just bragged on Trenton in the locker room,” Jones said. “He did a heck of a job. We went to a box-and-chaser the second half, and he did a tremendous job guarding him.”
Betsy Layne hit only four of 13 shots in the third quarter as Harlan County pulled out to a 61-55 lead despite missing 11 of its 17 shots.
Pente took over as the Betsy Layne offensive leader down the stretch, connecting on six straight shots. His third straight 3-pointer put the Bobcats up 76-73 with 1:20 left.
“We gutted it out and found a way to win. That was good to see,” Jones said.
Harlan County returns to action Monday at Perry Central as it opens defense of its WYMT Mountain Classic title with a 6 p.m. first-round game against Knott Central