LONDON — One bad quarter was not enough to keep the Harlan Green Dragons from evening their record in the Dribble Drive Challenge at South Laurel with a 59-55 win over Paul Laurence Dunbar on Monday morning.
Harlan led 20-13 after one quarter but went ice cold in the second quarter with no field goals and four of eight on free throws as the Bulldogs outscored them 21-4 to take a 10-point halftime advantage.
“Second quarter, defensively, we stunk and and gave up offensive rebounds and also missed too many free throws,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “The second half we did a better job of contesting shots and keeping guys in front of us. I think it was more about effort and energy on the defensive end in the second half.”
Harlan slowly fought back into the game in the third quarter, pulling within five before outscoring Dunbar 21-12 in the final quarter to pull away for the win even with perhaps their two best players (Kobe Noe and Izack Saylor) on the bench for much of the period with foul problems.
The 3-5 Dragons got contributions from several sources in the win as six players scored between eight and 14 points. Saylor led the Dragons with 14 points, followed by Jaxson Perry with 11. Ethan Huff added nine, followed by Dylan Cox and Legend Mimes with eight each and Noe with seven.
“We don’t have a guy who will go out there and get 25 a night, so we have to do it by committee,” Akal said. “We need multiple guys contributing in every facet of the game. When we do that we can be competitive.”
Cage Taylor scored 20 points to lead the 3-8 Bulldogs.
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Despite a 38-point explosion from Kobe Noe, the Green Dragons fell 71-64 against East Jessamine in a game on Monday afternoon.
Michah Anglin and Braylan Baber scored 21 points each for East Jessamine. Tyson Duke added 16 points.
Harlan (3-6) led 16-15 after one quarter as Noe scored eight pints and Dylan Cox hit two 3-pointers.
The lead grew to 33-30 at halftime as Noe added eight more points while Izack Saylor scored five.
East Jessamine cut the deficit to 51-49 after three quarters before outscoring the Dragons 22-13 in the final period, led by 11 points from Oram.
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Harlan (59) — Ethan Huff 9, Jaxson Perry 11, Izack Saylor 14, Dylan Cox 8, Kobe Noe 7, Legend Mimes 8, Braxton Rowe 2, Eil Noe 0.
Dunbar (55) — J.T. Martin 0, Cage Taylor 20, Blake Young 6, Miles Johnson 4, Cameron Hobson 12, Quincy Hancock 1, Chris Snow 4, Dominic Faulkener 8, Nate Goodpaster 0.
Dunbar 13 21 9 12 — 55
Harlan 20 4 14 21 — 59
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East Jessamine (71) — Cole Oram 4, Micah Anglin 21, Tyson Duke 16, Braylan Baber 21, Jackson Hill 6, Brendan Beam 3.
Harlan (64) — Ethan Huff 3, Jaxson Perry 0, Dylan Cox 8, Izack Saylor 7, Kobe Noe 38, Legend Mimes 6, Eli Noe 2, Braxton Rowe 0.
East Jessamine 15 15 19 22 — 71
Harlan 16 17 18 13 — 64
