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By John Henson

Contributing Sports Writer

When you have as many weapons as the Harlan County Black Bears seem to at this point of the 2024 season you can afford to experiment a little.

Harlan County, ranked second in the state by the state RPI system with a 21-2 record, rolled to a 91-47 victory Friday at Middlesboro in a game that looked much like a regular season NBA matchup for a half as both the Bears and Jackets got all the open shots they wanted in combining for 56 points in the first quarter and 89 in the first half. Harlan County started a running clock halfway through the third quarter as they outscored the Jackets 30-9 in the period.

“We scored 91 points, so that’s a plus, but I don’t think we guarded as well as we did against Bell,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “It was up and down, and that was a little my fault. We tried another press we hadn’t worked on that much. We wanted to try it and see what it looked like. I got out of it pretty quick. We switched and went back to stuff we do normally and it caused them some problems late in the second quarter and early in the third.”

Middlesboro focused its defensive efforts on HCHS stars Trent Noah and Maddox Huff as the Jackets limited Noah to 10 points in the first half, but senior forward Caleb Johnson hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter as he scored 17 for the game. Reggie Cottrell had three baskets in the second quarter and finished with 18 points. Jayce Carter added three baskets in the third quarter on the way to a 12-point night. Huff had three baskets in each of the first two quarters and hit seven of 11 shots for the game while running an HCHS offense that turned the ball over only three times in the game. Noah and Huff added 25 and 16 points, respectively, as all five Bears reached double figures for the first time this season.

“I thought our game plan gave Harlan County some fits in the first half. I told my team I was proud of them for doing the best they could to control the Bears. Some times the best of plans can work and still not come out ahead,” Middlesboro coach John Wheat said. “When you do a solid on the best two players, but two others step up it makes it hard to execute game plans. We did an excellent job for a half but then HC showed why they are top five in some polls in the state.”

Jones was happy with the way his Bears found the open man in building a 32-24 lead after one quarter and a 55-34 advantage by halftime.

“We’ve seen a lot of junk defenses, and we have some guys who can make shots,” Jones said. “They can give you trouble if you leave them open, and that opens things up for Trent and Maddox. We can’t play much better than that on offense, but we have to clean up some defense.”

Senior center Trey King led the 6-10 Jackets with 14 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore guard Joseph Killion hit a pair of 3s in the opening period and finished with 10 points.

The Black Bears will travel to Pikeville on Tuesday. Middlesboro plays at home on Monday against Campbell County, Tenn. The Jackets have key district games on Thursday at Bell County on Friday at home against Harlan.

“I’m very pleased with my ballclub, and we are starting to do some good things approaching February,” Wheat said.