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By John Henson
Sports Writer
HAZARD — Clay County coach Mike Jones was determined to make someone other than Harlan County all-state guard Maddox Huff beat his Tigers on Friday in the WYMT Mountain Classic.
Someone, on this night, went by the names of Jaycee Carter, Brody Napier and Trent Cole. The trio of Bears teamed for 42 points and took turns carrying their team in a 56-52 victory.
Huff was the focus of a smothering Clay defense that chased Huff all night and then double teamed him whenever he touched the ball.
“We worked on that for the last three days,” said Jones, who coached Huff at HCHS for two seasons. “I told Maddox after the game that I did that because I honestly think he’s the best player in the state. We had to limit his touches.”
Harlan County led most of the first half before Clay County took over in the third quarter, building an 11-point lead with an 18-3 run to start the second half.
“Maddox is such a complete player and he made the right plays,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “Our other guys played off him. He got it to the open man and didn’t force anything.”
After Napier, who finished with 13 points, carried the HCHS offense in the first quarter, it was Carter stepping to the front in the second quarter as he hit five straight shots on the way to a 16-point, nine-rebound night. Cole came through with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, hitting four straight shots to ignite an 11-0 run that put the Bears ahead by four with 1:25 left.
“I felt I needed to get something going and take over the game,” said Cole, a sophomore who played the past two years at Harlan. “When you have three people on Maddox, it kind of opens up things.”
“We knew he was capable of it. This was kind of his coming out party for us,” Kyle Jones said. “I told him I was super proud of him for taking over the game when we needed it. Jaycee and Brody are also capable of making plays, and they’ve been through the wars for us.”
Cole, who scored 13, and Huff, who added 10, each hit free throws in the final minute to put the game away and send HCHS to a championship game matchup Saturday against Hazard.
“The carryover from last year is helping us,” said Kyle Jones, referring to last year’s run to the Sweet Sixteen finals. “Our guys didn’t panic in the huddle when we got down 11. I think sometimes coaches handcuff kids by telling them not to shoot. We tell them to take the shots and eventually they will go in.”
“We let other people hurt us,” Michael Jones said. “We didn’t rotate and guard late in the game like we did earlier when we got the lead.”
Junior center Aiden Wagers led the 2-2 Tigers with 16 points. Sophomore forward Adon Grubb added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Tigers hit eight of 16 shots in the third quarter to take the lead but connected on only four of 12 shots in the fourth.
“What got us the lead was gang rebounding on the defensive end and guarding pretty well,” Michael Jones said. “We were attacking the basket on the offensive end. We completely went away from that. They have a heck of a ballclub though, and we knew that going in. We have to learn from this and get better.”
Clay County will play host to Whitley County on Monday.