After seeing his team’s 44-25 halftime lead evaporate to single digits, Trent Noah answered the challenge in the fourth quarter, scoring 15 of his game-high 30 points during Harlan County’s 81-73 win over rival Harlan.
The win allowed the Black Bears (21-5 overall, 5-0 vs. 52nd District opponents) to secure the 52nd District’s top seed while Harlan (21-5, 4-2) will be the No. 2 seeded team.
A slow start combined with solid defensive pressure from Harlan County allowed the Black Bears to jump out to a 24-7 advantage in the first quarter.
Harlan County was firing on all cylinders, nailing seven 3-pointers with three of those coming from Daniel Carmical. Carmical had 10 points during the period while Noah, and Maddox Huff hit two 3-pointers apiece while each player scored six points apiece in the period.
The Green Dragons began to settle down offensively in the second quarter but the Black Bears did just enough to push their lead to 44-25 at halftime.
Harlan began to chip away at its deficit in the third quarter, outscoring Harlan County, 24-15, to make the score 59-49 entering the final quarter of play.
The Green Dragons continued to rally but dug themselves too big of a hole.
Huff finished with 22 points for the Black Bears while Jonah Swanner added seven points.
Kyler McLendon led Harlan with 25 points while Jae’dyn Gist had 23 points, and Will Austin scored 12 points.
