Two nights after watching most of his Black Bears’ loss to Bell County from the bench after taking a hard fall, Harlan County senior guard Reggie Cottrell was determined to make a difference on Friday against Harlan in the next to last home game of his stellar career at Harlan County High School.
Cottrell led in points with 23, tied for the team lead in rebounds with six and was everywhere on defense as the Black Bears pulled away in the second half for a 69-50 win over the Green Dragons.
“I thought we were about to get back into the game several times, but they would get the big rebound and then the momentum,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “Reggie was special tonight. The way he got those 23 points told me he was locked in tonight. Defensively, he guarded each one of the guys who were the problem at the time. He rebounded, got to the rim and got to the free throw line. He played well tonight.”
“Reggie looked great. He’s a hard matchup for anyone in this region because he jumps so well and has an under rated mid range pull up,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “I was very pleased with how our kids played. I thought all eight who played gave us everything they had, and that’s what we’ve got to have.”
Junior guard Trent Cole added 18 points as the Bears improved to 13-7 overall and 2-1 in district action.
Jones, who moved within one win of the 100 victory mark, said his young team is continuing to make progress, pointing out that only Cottrell and Cole had any starting experience coming into the season.
“Harlan is a much improved basketball team. Coach Akal has done a good job with that group. I told them we had to focus in practice, and that’s something we haven’t done a good job of this year,” he said. “I think a lot of it is youth. We’re the most inexperienced team in the district. Everyone else has more starters back than we do. It’s a learning process for us. We have to focus in on our game plan, and I thought they did a much better job tonight doing that.”
Junior forward Legend Mimes came off the bench to lead the 8-13 Dragons with 23 points and eight rebounds, including another highlight reel dunk, this time off a missed free throw. Sophomore center Kobe Noe added 12 points.
“I was really impressed with Mimes. I think he has a chance to be really good,” Jones said. “I hadn’t seen him in person until tonight. He’s pretty impressive.”
The Black Bears scored the game’s first five points and never trailed, but Harlan did pull even at 13 on a Mimes 3-pointer with 48 seconds left in the opening period. HC managed to score seven points before the quarter ended as Kaden Jones hit a 3 and Landon Brock connected on a jumper as time expired for a 20-13 lead.
Baskets by Cottrell and Tucker Curtis extended the lead to nine before Harlan battled back again, pulling to within three on a Dylan Cox trey with 1:14 left in the half. The Bears closed strong again with a 7-0 run on a basket by Cole, two free throws by Cottrell and then a leaping steal by Cottrell and a pass to Brock for another buzzer-beating shot, this one a 3, for a 39-29 lead at halftime.
Mimes kept Harlan in the game with three baskets on three attempts in the third quarter, but four more baskets by Cottrell helped Harlan County extend its lead to 54-38 heading into the final period.
After being limited to only three baskets over the first three quarters, Noe hit three straight shots in the fourth period as Harlan fought back to within 12. Cole answered the call this time with a 3 and then two free throws to push the lead back to 17. Harlan County went to its spread soon after and put the game away with Brennan Blevins, Cole and Brady Smith each hitting two free throws.
Harlan shot 40 percent (19 of 48) from the field and connected on only three of 13 from behind the 3-point line. Akal said the Dragons’ struggles were a combination of good defense and bad ball movement.
“I think it was a little bit of both,” he said. “We didn’t move the ball as well as we should and get in the paint where we could kick it back out. We took some contested shots.”
Harlan plays host to Hazard on Monday while Harlan County travels to South Laurel.