After Harlan County’s two wins over Harlan during the regular season by an average of 40 points, the third meeting between the two rivals on Tuesday in the 52nd District Tournament at Harlan didn’t figure to have the juice of previous matchups between the two this decade in championship games.
The young Green Dragons had other ideas, putting up quite a fight before HCHS pulled away in the second half for a 68-49 victory that propelled them into Friday’s championship game against Bell County.
Harlan County lost three players to fouls in the ultra-aggressive game and lost starting point guard Trent Cole to an apparent broken nose and stitches during a collision in a battle for a rebound late in the second quarter.
“I was proud of them for their first district tournament to come out here and compete against one of the best teams in the state, not just in our region,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “We’ve improved some, but I thought the biggest thing was we just played harder tonight.”
“It was intense and got a little out of hand at times. Harlan played hard,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “We had some who weren’t fully locked in. When you come off beating a team like we have a couple of times, no matter what a coach says they aren’t going to be fully locked in. At halftime, we had missed four wide-open layups and about seven free throws. I felt comfortable though. We have poised kids, and I know we’ll be locked in and ready to go on Friday.”
While the Bears struggled at times, senior guard Maddox Huff made certain they were in control most of the way as he hit 10 of 19 shots in a 33-point effort to help the Bears improve to 23-8.
“”We were in his face, but Maddox is a tough-shot maker and can create shots going right or going left. We knew it would be a tall task to try to deal with him,” Akal said. “He is so good offensively that they will have a shot every night, no matter who they play.”
Junior guard Reggie Cottrell added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Bears with all four of his baskets in the second half with two other starters out due to injuries and fouls.
Freshman center Kobe Noe had a huge game for the 5-25 Dragons as he finished with 22 points and six rebounds.
“This was a great exit game for him to end the season,” said Akal, who noted that Noe had the potential to be one of the region’s top post players. “He won’t wow you with his jumping ability or speed, but we’re going to work with him. He can do a lot of things well
“Kobe is a big, strong kid who will keep getting better,” Jones said. “They have good young kids and so do we. Ours just haven’t had an opportunity to play very much yet.”
Guards Dylan Cox and Ethan Huff added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Dragons.
Cox hit three straight shots in the opening quarter as Harlan grabbed an early 6-2 lead before Huff heated up, hitting four straight shots to give HCHS a 15-10 lead after one quarter.
Harlan was still within eight with just over two minutes left when Cole went down with the injury and was treated on the floor for several minutes before being helped to the bench after his head was wrapped . A Brody Napier 3 and a basket by Brennan Blevins helped the Bears close with a 9-2 run to take a 35-20 halftime lead.
Huff made getting inside more of a focus in the second half and hit four of his first six shots as the HCHS lead grew to 57-34 after three quarters.
Noe hit three of four shots in the fourth quarter as Harlan made a late run after the Bears’ lead grew to 26 early in the final period.