Bears show out at KBC Invitational

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Harlan County rolled past Mason County 80-37 and defeated Fern Creek 69-61 on Saturday in the second day of play at the KBC Mack, Miller and Lofton Invitational at Lexington Catholic High School.

Trent Cole scored 18 points and Reggie Cottrell added 17 in the Bears’ win over Mason. Brennan Blevins added 16 points off the bench. Maddox Huff scored 11. Jaycee Carter tossed in six. Landon Brock scored four. Brody Napier, Bryson Bryant, Cole Cornett and Brody Freeman added two each.

Cottrell poured in 24 points in a hard-fought win over Fern Creek. Napier added 18. Huff tossed in 13. Carter added 11 points in addition to a strong defensive game. Cole scored two.

Harlan County (10-2) will travel to South Laurel on Tuesday.

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Harlan County fell 39-35 to Woodford County in freshman action.

Thyler Coots led the Bears with 13 points. Hayden Grace scored eight, Brady Smith and Ryan Day added six each. Tucker Curtis chipped in with two.

Bears split first two games in KBC tournament in Lexington

In a showdown of two of the four teams still playing on the final day of the 2024 season, 13th Region champ Harlan County met 11th Region champ Great Crossing on the first day of play in the KBC Mack, Miller and Lofton Invitational at Lexington Catholic High School.

The game lasted a little less than 15 minutes as an apparent roof leak forced a stoppage of play with Harlan County winning 32-26 with 5:13 to play in the first half.

Senior guard Maddox Huff hit a pair of 3s in the opening minute on the way to a 13-point effort. Reggie Cottrell added eight points, followed by Jaycee Carter with six, Trent Cole with three and Brody Napier with two.

The Bears shot much better than they did in an earlier 73-69 double-overtime loss to Montgomery County and did a good job holding their own inside against 6-11 all-state center Malachi Moreno, the early favorite for 2025 Mr. Basketball and a big reason why Great Crossing will likely be the state’s preseason No. 1 team.

Harlan County came out ice cold against Montgomery and trailed 12-1 before Carter recorded the Bears’ first field goal almost eight minutes into the scrimmage. Cottrell and Cole sparked a comeback as the Bears took a 25-23 lead. The lead changed hands several times before Montgomery went on top 35-34 at the break.

Huff and Napier heated up in the second half as the lead changed hands several times. Montgomery led by four when Huff hit a 3, then Huff hit three of three at the line with 3.4 seconds left to send the game into the first one-minute overtime.

Montgomery led by four before baskets from Napier and Huff forced a second extra period. The Indians scored all four points in the second extra period.

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