A well-traveled group of young basketball players, the Harlan County Bulls will face their toughest test yet this weekend in the U.S. Amateur National Championships (third-grade division) this week in Knoxville
“This weekend is a great opportunity for this bunch,” said Harlan County Bulls coach Eddie Creech. “One of main goals when we started this was to get out and play outside of Harlan County. We wanted our kids to face the best of the best. We have accomplished that thus far and this weekend will be the biggest test to this point.”
The Bulls have compiled a record of 79-29 and won 14 tournament titles over the past couple of seasons, including trips to tourneys in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee and throughout Kentucky.
Easton Engle, a fourth-grader from James A. Cawood who qualifies for the third-grade division due to his age, has led the team in scoring. Trey Creech, a third-grader from Rosspoint, is first in assists. Rosspoint’s Carson Sanders and James A. Cawood’s Adrian Fields, lead in rebounding, while Rosspoint’s Blake Johnson is first in field goal percentage.
The Bulls will play We Got Buckets (Tenn.) on Saturday at 9 a.m. followed by a game against TN Swish at 12:30 p.m. and Team STAG (Ga.) at 4 p.m. to conclude pool play.