Harlan County Defeats Evangel Christian to Set Up Cross-State Sweet 16 Finale
“Maybe some couches will be burned tonight in Harlan County.”
Star player Trent Noah said with a smile, realizing what his team has accomplished. As Noah sat next to his coach and two fellow Black Bear teammates, the moment finally dawned on Noah — his team will play in the Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 Tournament championship in just a few hours.
“We have the best fans in the state, they’ll travel wherever. We know they will have our backs tonight.”
Noah, Harlan County’s senior star and future South Carolina Gamecock, has gone nuclear throughout the Sweet 16. He scored 35 points in Harlan County’s first-round win over Warren Central and followed that up with 48 points on 16-23 shooting with seven threes in a quarterfinal win over Campbell County.
Kentucky’s third-leading all-time leading scorer entered Saturday afternoon’s semifinal matchup against Evangel Christian with a hot hand.
However, Evangel Christian entered the tournament ranked fifth in the state by KSR, while Harlan was a few spots behind in ninth. The Eagles breezed through the season on their way to a 29-6 record and a championship in the 6th Region. The tiny school hardly filled a few Rupp Arena rows of fans, while Harlan’s side was much different.
When Noah referenced the rabid Black Bear fanbase, he may have been underselling it, and that is saying something. The Harlan County faithful filled an entire side of Rupp Arena from row A to row ZZ, with every one of them decked out in Maroon and White. When a call would go against Harlan County, the sounds emitted from the usual eRUPPtion Zone side sounded like Tennessee just ran in with their white and orange pajamas.
Undoubtedly, each team had a much different fanbase presence at Rupp Arena.
Game Recap
The rowdy crowd seemed to be of instant help for Harlan County as the Black Bears stormed off to a 9-0 start against Evangel Christian. It seemed that everything Harlan threw up was going in, and Noah earned two and-ones in the first three minutes of the game.
Coach Kyle Jones talked about their fast start, “I knew we weren’t gonna run away with it. They’re too athletic, too big, but those spurts definitely helped us get over the hump.”
Coach Jones was right as Evangel stormed back behind eight straight points from Christian Doerr, he was aided by a jumper from Kyran Tilley and the Eagles fought back to a 15-12 deficit after the first quarter.
Evangel started to fly in the second quarter and took a 29-25 lead with 2:14 remaining in the half. However, Harlan County’s resiliency was shown for the first time as three free throws from the Black Bears and then a Noah triple gave them a 32-30 lead going into halftime.
Second Half
Noah then started the second half exactly as the first ended, with a three-pointer splashing into the net.
Reggie Cottrell and Caleb Johnson added buckets for the Black Bears, as Tilley continued to try and keep Evangel in the game. Harlan took an eight-point lead into the fourth as Cottrell made a beautiful cut for a last-second bucket.
As soon as Cottrell received the ball, he lept for a perfect layup. In the post-game press conference, Cotrell even looked surprised the ball went in, as his coach insisted that if Cottrell was fully healthy he would have dunked it. Either way, two points went up on the board and everyone in marroon went bonkers.
The fourth quarter was similar to Lyon County’s win earlier in the day as Harlan held the ball and made free throws — the lead never got below six. Harlan County defeated Evangel 55-47 for a spot in the championship game. Noah finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds while going 16-18 from the line.
After the game, Noah spoke on his relationship with Travis Perry, the star of Lyon County who they will face in the championship tonight.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” Noah said. “We’ve played in a lot of All-Star games and AAU games together. He’s a really special player. I’m excited for what he’s going to do at the next level. But I guess tonight we’re a little bit of rivals.”
Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. EST inside Rupp Arena.
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