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By John Henson
Sports Writer

Thirteen games into their high school careers, the 2025 version of the Harlan Green Dragons had yet to play in a true big-game atmosphere — at least until Thursday night when they saw the crowd that shows up when the Harlan County Black Bears make the trip across town.
Senior guard Maddox Huff, who has been playing in HC-Harlan games since many of the Dragons were barely in middle school, provided a valuable lesson in what big games are all about as he poured in 36 points as the visiting Black Bears coasted to a 75-47 victory. Senior center Jaycee Carter added 10 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Trent Cole also chipped in with 10 points for the 9-4 Bears
Harlan coach Derrick Akal says the experience of playing against a squad that made it all the way to the state finals a year ago could help his young team grow.
“It was a good experience for our young guys with this many people in the gym playing against the defending state runner-up,” he said. “I think we’ll learn from this.”
The Bears took control of the game with defense, forcing 11 turnovers in the second quarter and 10 in the third quarter to force a running clock before the fourth period began.
“I felt we followed our game plan pretty well. We were trying to key in on tendencies, and I felt we did that,” Harlan County coach Kyle Jones said. “I’m proud of their effort. We gave up some 3s we shouldn’t have, but we did a good job overall. We had some kids come off the bench and play well. We feel we have some pretty good young kids too. I think we’re battle tested and will be ready when the time comes.”
“When you have two freshman guards, you can expect that. Learning under fire is part of it,” Akal said. “Maddox is one of those guys who is a high-level scorer. Not just a shooter or a driver, but a scorer who has great confidence. That’s hard to deal with for a young team. We don’t mind people making tough shots, but when you let other guys get 15 and 10 that’s when you start running into problems.”
One of those freshman guards, Jaxson Perry, helped Harlan outscore HCHS 18-10 in the fourth quarter as he reeled off 10 of his team-high 17 points. Junior guard Dylan Cox added 11 points for the 2-12 Dragons.
Huff and Carter had two baskets each in the first quarter as the Bears grabbed a 17-7 lead.
Harlan hit five of six shots in the second quarter but couldn’t keep up due to turnovers as the Bears connected on eight of 17 attempts, led by four baskets from Huff, to build a 40-22 halftime lead.
Huff and Napier each hit 3s and Carter and Cole added baskets as HCHS closed the third period with a 10-0 run to go up 65-29.
Harlan will play Oneida Baptist on Saturday at 2 in the quarterfinals of the 13th Region All “A” Classic at Lynn Camp. Harlan County will play Mercer County on Friday at 4 at South Laurel in the Raymond Reed Classic.