LOG MOUNTAIN — With his Harlan County Black Bears trailing by 10 at halftime, senior guard Reggie Cottrell showed why he is one of the 13th Region’s top-rated players as he took over the third quarter by scoring 17 of his team-high 32 points to pull his team even heading into the fourth quarter.
Whitley County sophomore Riley Fuson demonstrated in the fourth quarter why he should also be in that category as took over down the stretch, scoring 12 of his 38 points as Whitley pulled away for a 76-69 win on Saturday over defending champ Harlan County in the semifinals of the 2A Section 7 Tournament at Bell County.
“He was a bull tonight,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “We couldn’t keep him off the boards. He made 3s, made free throws and hurt us with drives since he’s such a big body. I thought we did a pretty good job on (Bryson) Mahan and (Levi) Jackson, but Fuson really took control of the game.”
“Reggie and Riley were going back and forth making big plays,” Whitley County coach Eric Swords said. “Both teams had trouble getting the flow trying to mix and match with foul problems, but Riley played big for us. He probably had 10 to 15 rebounds in addition to his points. That’s big for us since we don’t have that much size. He needs to be that guy, and he’s capable of it. I worry about rebounding more than scoring. He carried us tonight.”’
Jackson and Bowling added 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Colonels, who have two wins this season over the Bears.
Trent Cole chipped in with 13 points for the Bears.
Harlan County raced to a 7-0 lead before Fuson brought the Colonels and helped them build a 22-12 lead after one quarter. The Colonels led by as many as 13 points before Cole hit a 3 and then connected on three free throws to cut the deficit to 37-27 at halftime.
Kaden Jones and Cole each hit 3s early in the third quarter, then Cottrell took over with eight straight points to cap a 14-0 run that put the Bears up by four. Fuson answered with five straight points as Whitley reclaimed the lead. Two straight baskets by Cotrell put the Bears back on top before a basket by Henry Bowling tied the game going into the fourth period.
“He’s got to do that as our senior leader. He’s been through a lot of wars,” Jones said. “I know he will continue do to that this year. I’m proud of our kids’ effort overall tonight. We got ourselves in foul trouble and kudos to them because they made free throws. I thought we had a lot of bright spots for us tonight. Reggie and Brady (Smith) had both been battling the flu, and they played hard. We made some adjustments at halftime that got us some shots, but they made a few more plays down the stretch than we did.”
“It was a game of runs. They started out 7-0, then we responded and got into a groove. We were playing well offensively,” Swords said. “Both teams had some foul problems and it became a game of chess on who each of us had out there. They got more aggressive going to the rim the second half, and we didn’t do a great job with that. We regained our defensive presence toward the end of the third quarter. We were trying to take Cole away because he had a big game up there.”
Whitley County (11-3) will play Bell County on Tuesday at 7:30 in the championship game. Harlan County (7-5) will take on McCreary Central at 6 for third place.
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Whitley County (76) — Bryson Mahan 8, Henry Bowling 12, Dee Parker 3, Levi Jackson 13, Riley Fuson 38, Garrett Sharp 0, Kayden Centers 2.
Harlan County (69) — Trent Cole 13, Brady Smith 5, Kaden Jones 8, Reggie Cottrell 32, Brennan Blevins 6, Landon Brock 0, Tucker Curtis 5, Hayden Grace 0, Kayden Hensley 0, Easton Engle 0.
Harlan County 12 15 27 15 — 69
Whitley County 22 15 17 22 — 76
