Determined to break a 14-year drought between 13th Region Tournament appearances, the Whitley County Colonels made quite a statement Saturday in a 76-71 win at Harlan County against one of the region’s premier programs.
“I thought they were a top five team in the region, and it’s always tough to win here. Coach (Kyle) Jones does a great job with them. They are tough, gritty and can shoot the ball,” Whitley County coach Eric Swords said.
The Colonels took Harlan County’s best shot early as the Bears hit eight of their first nine attempts in building a 14-point lead before scratching back into the game in the second quarter before finally taking the lead in the final period. The Bears fought back from a 10-point deficit themselves to get within one but Whitley responded with a couple of key defensive stops with the game on the line.
A key move was Swords’ decision to go to a box-and-chaser focused on junior guard Trent Cole in the second half with football star Dee Parker guarding him. Cole spent much of the third quarter standing in the corner and took only one shot.
“We let the Cole kid gap us in the first quarter. I knew he was good, but he’s even better than I thought he was,” Swords said. “We ran that last year a lot but hadn’t practiced it much this year, but he had three 3s the first half and it was tough on us. We were kind of keying on Reggie (Cottrell) to start the game, but we switched it up, and I think iit gave them problems.”
Sophomore guard Levi Jackson scored 28 points to lead the 2-0 Colonels. Bryson Mahan and Riley Fuson added 16 and 13 points, respectively.
The Bears placed four in double figures, led by Cole with 22 points. Brennan Blevins hit all six of his shots and scored 14 points. Brady Smith and Cottrell added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Trailing 8-7 midway through the first quarter, the reeled off 11 unanswered points as Smith, Blevins, Cottrell and Kaden Jones had baskets. Cole hit a 3 and added a buzzer-beating basket for a 25-11 lead.
“I thought we played extremely well the first half. We played as well as you could expect, I thought,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “We got good movement and hit open shots. The momentum changed the second half. They were more aggressive getting to the basket and on the boards. We gave up a lot of baseline drives that turned into dump offs for layups. I’m not mad at our kids. I’m upset we got, but it’s a learning experience for some of them. We’ll keep working to get better. We just let one slip away. We put them at the free throw line way too much.”
Jackson hit three 3s in the second quarter as the Colonels started to cut into the deficit, getting as close as four before Cole and Blevins stopped the run with baskets to help Harlan County grab a 39-30 advantage at the break.
“We lost (Jackson) on our zone press some in the first half, and he made us pay,” Jones said. “I thought that was huge.”
“Our kids kept battling back. I thought Levi hit some big shots, and so did Riley. Everybody on the floor played well,” Swords said.
After being held without a basket in the first half, Mahan heated up in the third quarter as Whitley outscored the Bears 22-13 to pull even going into the final period.
Jackson’s 3 gave the Colonels their first lead since early in the game and started a 17-7 run that gave Whitley a 69-59 lead with 3:13 to play. Blevins scored in the paint then forced a turnover that led to a Cole 3 that cut the deficit to four. Cole scored off a drive to make the score 72-71.
Cole was called for a charge as he drove for the potential tying basket with 51 seconds left. A Mahan steal and basket with 15 seconds remaining put the game away for the Colonels.
:”They made some adjustments and beat us to some 50-50 balls late. They deserve a lot of credit,” Jones said.
“I thought we did a better job of attacking them the second half,” Swords said.
Harlan County returns to action Tuesday at Belfry. The Colonels play host to Boyle County on Tuesday.
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Eighth-grade forward Hudson Faulkner scored 12 points to lead Harlan County to a 39-33 win in a freshman game. Easton Engle scored nine, followed by Carson Sanders with seven, Trey Creech with six, Blake Johnson with three and Andrew Vance with two.
Braxton Prewitt led Whitley with 12 points. Brayden Fuston and Trenton McQueen added nine each. Jacob Alder scored three.
Whitley County rolled to a 57-37 win in junior varsity action as Caleb Cureton scored 12 points to lead the Colonels.
Tyhler Coots scored 10 for the Bears. Creech added six. Faulkner and Sanders chipped in with five each. Nathan Barger scored four, followed by Engle with three and Johnson and Rydge Lewis with two each.