A nine-point game with two minutes left in the third quarter got away from the visiting Pikeville Panthers as quickly as three trips down the court Thursday at Harlan County High School.
Harlan County reeled off eight unanswered points to close the period, then outscored the Panthers 20-11 to start the fourth quarter on the way to an 89-68 victory over one of the five teams that beat them last year on the way to a state tournament runner-up finish.
“They have a great basketball team, and we knew that coming in here,” Pikeville coach Elisha Justice said. “I thought we competed for three, three and a half quarters, and they just got on a run it got out of hand.”
“I have a lot of respect for coach Justice. His kids always play the right way and are real disciplined,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said, “It worked sometimes and sometimes it didn’t. This team is capable of going on runs and can score points in bunches. We still have to defend better and do it more consistently. You have to do it every night in tournament time.”
Senior guard Maddox Huff led the 15-5 Bears with 30 points and seven rebounds on the night he was honored by reaching the 2,000-point plateau earlier this season.
“Maddox Huff is the best player we’ve seen. We wanted to make it tough on him, but he’s a big-time player and makes tough shots. You just have to tip your hat to him,” Justice said. “He’s a gym rat, and I’m sure he works on that. He practices at game speed, and it pays off. We’ve seen several films on him, and he’s exceptional every game we’ve seen. “
“Maddox makes a lot of tough shots, and the thing is he works on those shots and we have confidence in him,” Jones said. “He’s in the gym 24/7 and will make a lot of shots.”
Huff was far from a one-man show as senior center Jaycee Carter added 25 points on 11-of-13 shooting, along with 11 rebounds.
“He can do it from inside and out and works really hard on the block,” Justice said. “It makes it tough with complementary plays around Huff.”
“It’s lot harder to beat us when we get multiple guys in double figures,” Jones said. “Jaycee played well and has become a good post presence for us. We just have to get him the ball.”
Reggie Cottrell and Trent Cole added 11 and nine points, respectively, for Harlan County.
Senior guard Ian Onkst led the 7-5 Panthers with 27 points. Junior guard Jackson Keene added 16 points.
Harlan County travels to Breathitt County on Saturday to take on one of the top teams in the 14th Region.