Bears’ early-season win streak ends at Scott

Scotts+Dasani+Lane+worked+around+Harlan+Countys+Jackson+Huff+in+Saturdays+game.+Scott+handed+HCHS+its+first+loss+of+the+season%2C+winning+62-56.

John Henson

Scott’s Dasani Lane worked around Harlan County’s Jackson Huff in Saturday’s game. Scott handed HCHS its first loss of the season, winning 62-56.

By John Henson, Managing Editor
January 23, 2021

Scott 62, Harlan County 56

HARLAN COUNTY (7-1)
Trent Noah 8-15 14-16 35, Jackson Huff 0-3 0-0 0, Daniel Carmical 1-4 0-0 3, Tyler Cole 4-13 2-3 11, Josh Turner 0-1 0-1 0, Maddox Huff 0-3 2-2 2, Jonah Swanner 1-3 3-4 5. Totals: 14-42 21-26 56.
SCOTT (3-2)
Grant Profitt 6-13 4-4 20, Mitchell Minor 0-5 4-8 4, Nolan Hunter 7-10 4-5 18, Dasani Lane 1-4 0-0 2, Cam Patterson 4-7 5-7 13, Riley Huff 1-2 0- 2, Derrick Farmer 1-3 0-0 2, Brayden Howell 0-3 1-2 1. Totals: 20-48 18-26 62.

Harlan County 14 14 15 13 — 56
Scott 12 22 12 16 — 62
3-point goals: Harlan County 7-24 (Noah 5-11, Carmical 1-3, Cole 1-6, J. Huff 0-2, M. Huff 0-2), Scott 4-16 (Profitt 4-8, Farmer 0-1, Howell 0-1, Lane 0-2, Minor 0-4). Rebounds: Harlan County 24 (Noah 12, Cole 6, Swanner 4, Turner 1, M. Huff 1), Scott 30 (Patterson 18, Profitt 5, Hunter 4, Lane 1, Huff 1, Howell 1). Turnovers: Harlan County 13, Scott 13. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: Harlan County (bench).

 

COVINGTON — Seven wasn’t a lucky number for the Harlan County Black Bears on Saturday at Scott High School in northern Kentucky. The Bears, who had won six previous road games in six different regions to start the 2021 season, saw the streak end Saturday in a 62-56 loss to the 10th Region squad that eliminated HCHS in the 2017 state tournament.
Scott (3-2) executed on offense extremely well, hurting the Bears time and time again with backdoor cuts for layups. The Eagles also caused problems with their aggressive man-to-man defense that held everyone not named Trent Noah to one basket over the final three quarters.
“They get up in you and force you to be aggressive,” Harlan County coach Michael Jones said. “It was a good learning experience and we’ll learn from it. It will make us better at the end of the year.”
Cam Patterson, a 6-6 junior center, was a matchup nightmare for the Bears with his 13-point, 18-rebound performance as he kept numerous possessions alive with his work on the offensive glass.
“They executed very well today. For whatever reason, we were losing focus on who we were matched up with and they were hurting us backdoor and shooting layup after layup,” Jones said. “We talked at halftime about giving up 17 points just by being out of position. Those are things we can’t do if we want to be where we hope to be at the end of the year.”
Senior guard Grant Profitt hit all four of Scott’s 3-pointers and finished with 20 points. Sophomore forward Nolan Hunter chipped in with 18 points.
Noah carried the Harlan County offense with 35 points. Tyler Cole added 11 points, all but two in the opening quarter when HCHS took a 14-12 lead.
Patterson had seven points and six rebounds in the second quarter as Scott built a 34-28 lead by halftime as Noah had all four of the Bears’ field goals in the period.
With Noah scoring 13 of his team’s 15 points in the third quarter, the Bears cut a nine-point deficit to one before a basket by Riley Huff gave the Eagles a 46-43 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Scott built a 10-point lead with three minutes left when Noah reeled off five straight points. The Bears had several opportunities to get closer but couldn’t convert around the basket as they missed eight of 10 shots from the field in the period.
Harlan County (7-1) will travel to South Laurel for a 7 p.m. game on Tuesday.