LOG MOUNTAIN — With his Harlan County Black Bears down 12 points early in the fourth quarter and headed toward fourth place in a four-team 2A Section 7 Tournament, junior guard Trent Cole took over. Cole reeled off 12 straight points to pull the Bears even and went on to score 22 of his game-high 38 points in the fourth quarter to lift HC to a 76-70 victory on Tuesday at Bell County.
Cole hit six 3-pointers and connected on 14 of 15 at the line to lead the 8-5 Bears. Reggie Cottrell added 17 points and tied Cole for a team-high in rebounds with seven.
“We had some kids step up and make some big shots and big plays,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “I put the ball in the hands of Reggie (Cottrell) and Trent at the end so they could get to the foul line. They’ve been in those situations. I had confidence in them. I went to that spread and told them to get Trent or Reggie the ball. Those two guys have been there and won’t feel any pressure making those shots. Our other kids did a good job getting it back to them.”
McCreary Central outhustled and outplayed the Bears through much of the first half, using a 20-10 advantage on the boards to take an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter. Cottrell scored six points and Kayden Jones hit a 3 in a 9-0 run that cut the deficit to 34-32 at halftime.
“I wasn’t pleased with how we played in the first half. McCreary Central was hot, and I don’t think we came out here ready to play playing for third place,” Jones said. “We talked at halftime about better close outs on 3s and rebounding. That’s something we’ll have problems with a lot this year because we’re undersized. As long as we’re playing hard and getting better, I’m happy.”
McCreary quickly regained the momentum in the third quarter to go back up by 10, a lead the Raiders maintained at 58-48 going into the final period.
After Cole pulled the Bears even with 12 straight points, Kaden Jones put them ahead with this third 3 of the night. Drew Corder hit a 3 for McCreary as the Raiders pulled even again before Cole came through with a 3 from the corner. Brady Smith drew a foul on the play and hit one of two to make the score 69-65 with 2:29 left. Cottrell came through on the defensive as he came up with a steal and then drew a charge to keep the lead at two before Cole took over at the line, hitting seven of eight free throws over the final two minutes.
Senior guard Peyton Higginbotham led the 6-8 Raiders with 22 points. Junior guard Kolton Summers added 13 points.
Harlan County returns to action Tuesday at home against Breathitt County.