Harlan County guard Reggie Cottrell may have set the tone for the night midway through the first quarter of Friday’s 52nd District Tournament championship game against Bell County when he deposited a Cameron Hall shot into the bleachers behind the HCHS bench at Harlan High School.
Bell entered the championship showdown as the third best 3-point shooting team in the state (at just under 44 percent) and the fourth best shooting team overall (at 54.3 percent) and had put on a clinic in a win over the Bears earlier this season on Log Mountain. It was the HCHS defense, however, taking center stage in earning a four-game split against Bell and a third straight district title in a 61-51 win. The Bobcats hit only four of 16 from behind the 3-point line for 25 percent and 18 of 52 overall for 35 percent.
“Their defense had a little bit do with that. They played well,” Bell County coach Brad Sizemore said. “We tried to work early in the game for good shots. The ones we did get, we didn’t make and kind of dug ourselves a hole. We played hard, but we didn’t play very fluid on offense. I knew it would be hard to beat them three times in a row. Our guys played hard, but they made more plays. The lead got away from us and we had to scramble and try to press, and they were able to shoot layups on the back side basically. You have to give the other team credit, and we move on to the next thing.”
Harlan County’s man-to-man defense kept the Bell shooters covered most of the night as the Bobcats gave up a 3-point attack at times, choosing instead to go one-on-one for jumpers in the paint.
“We went with those matchups the first time we played them but got in foul trouble. I thought Brody (Napier) and Maddox (Huff) guarded their top two scorers and held them in check. (Blake) Burnett scored some but had to make tough shots,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said.
“We knew we had to play well defensively, and we were super locked in tonight,” Huff said. “To hold a good team like Bell to win 51 points says something. If we continue to stay that locked in defensively we’ll continue to win games.”
Huff poured in 29 points to lead the 24-8 Bears, hitting nine of 14 shots while also covering standout Bell sophomore forward Ethan Buell, who scored 11 points. Burnett, a junior guard, led the 26-6 Bobcats with 18 points.
Cottrell scored 13 and Napier added 10 for Harlan County.
Huff hit three straight shots and Cottrell added two as the Bears raced to a 12-5 lead. Bell reeled off nine straight points, capped by Cayden Huff’s tip in, to go up by two before Napier’s 3 gave the Bears a 15-14 lead after one quarter.
Bell hit only two of 11 shots in the second quarter as HCHS slowly built on its lead. Huff was double teamed when he touched the ball and was held without a basket until the final 1:27 when hit a 3 and then two free throws to put the Bears up 27-20 at the break.
Harlan County hit only four of 12 shots in the third period but continued to build its lead as Huff hit three of four shots to push the Bears’ advantage to 37-28.
Bell was forced to pick up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter and the Bears went from good to surgical on offense, hitting seven of their first eight shots to go up by as many as 16 points.
“I think they knew they had to speed us up and that leads to one-on-one for me and my teammates. We just had to step up and hit open shots, and that’s something I’ve done all my life,” Huff said.
“Everybody knows everybody at this point, and they normally don’t press us, but we worked on some things, including a two-guard front against their zone,” Jones said. “We shot layups in the fourth quarter. I was proud of them.”
Jones said the experience the Bears gained last year in winning district and regional titles and advancing all the way to the state finals paid off on Friday.
“These are tough kids. They aren’t satisfied yet and wanted to win (another) district championship, especially these seniors, plus Trenton (Cole) and Reggie (Cottrell) and the others wanted to send them out of district play with another championship,” Jones said.
Both teams advance to the 13th Region Tournament, opening Wednesday at The Corbin Area. Harlan County will play either Knox Central, Clay County or Corbin in the first round Bell County will play either Pineville, North Laurel or South Laurel in the first round.