On their way to last year’s state championship game, the Harlan County Black Bears suffered one of their five losses in Lexington at the Jock Sutherland Classic as they fell 79-69 to Frederick Douglass.
The Bears won’t mind following a similar path this year. They met Frederick Douglass on Saturday at Lafayette High School in a rematch with the Broncos ranked No. 1 in Kentucky in the RPI ratings.
Harlan County led 35-27 at halftime but couldn’t hold off the 22-2 Broncos in the second half as Douglass rallied for a 70-58 win.
Junior guard DeMarcus Surratt scored 17 to lead the Broncos. Junior forward Tate Robinson tossed in 15, followed by senior forward Aveion Chenault with 13 and señor guard Jaunte Jenkins with 12.
Senior guard Maddox Huff scored 28 to lead the 18-8 Black Bears. Senior center Jaycee Carter added 14 points.
Harlan County will play host to South Laurel on Monday in a showdown of the top teams in the 13th Region in preseason polls and current RPI rankings.
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Frederick Douglass (70) — Jaunte Jenkins 12, DeMarcus Surratt 17, Tate Robinson 15, Aveion Chenault 13, Terry Cayson 5, Dakari Talbert 2, Logan Busson 2, Nate Coen 4.
Harlan County (58) — Trent Cole 9, Maddox Huff 28, Brody Napier 2, Reggie Cottrell 5, Jaycee Carter 14.
Harlan County 20 15 11 12 — 58
Frederick Douglass 22 5 24 19 — 70
