BY BOO NEWSOME
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
HINDMAN — Martin County defeated host Knott County 54-48 in the WYMT Food City Mountain Classic Dec. 4, then lost a hard-fought battle to a talented Harlan 86-76 in the semifinals Friday night.
Below is a recap of both games.
MC 54, KC 48
The contest between the Cardinals and the Knott County Bears was a tug-of-war, with both teams playing lockdown defense and struggling to find offensive momentum.
Martin County clung to a narrow 13-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams scored in single digits in the second quarter, which ended with Martin County in front 21-19.
Knott County was in front 31-30 to end the third quarter, but Peyton Davis knocked down four 3-pointers in the final frame to help Coach Jason James’ Cardinals secure the win.
“I was proud of our defense in the Knott County game,” Coach James said. “It was practically nonexistent the first two games of the season, but we really battled and guarded for 32 minutes. I thought this was a great win, especially since Knott County has been playing really well. They had wins against Pikeville and Pike County Central.”
Luke Hale led Martin County with 17 points, Brayden McKenzie and Davis each finished with 12 points, Jacob Sturgell added six, Dray Duff flipped in five and Blake Maynard added two.
Jayden Huff led Knott County with a game-high 24 points, Hunter Hadddix scored 10, Braxton Reade finished with six, Chance Amburgey chipped in four, and Connor Slone and Drake Slone each added two.
McKenzie led the Cardinals on the boards with nine and Maynard finished with eight.
The Cardinals were 5 of 7 from the free-throw line. The Cardinals went 9 of 18 from the 3-point line for 50%.
HC 86, MC 76
Martin County lost an intense semifinal clash Friday, with the top 10-ranked Harlan County Bears coming out on top 86-76.
The lead went back and forth, with both teams playing at a fast pace. The score remained deadlocked 14-14 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter was a duel between Trent Noah and Luke Hale, with Trent contributing 19 points and Hale putting up 13. Despite the Martin County effort, the Cardinals trailed 40-37 at halftime.
The momentum shifted in the third quarter as Noah scored 21 of Harlan’s 29 points to put the Bears up 69-57.
Martin County closed the gap to four in the final quarter, but Harlan pulled ahead for the win.
Despite the defeat, Coach Jason James saw a lot of positives from his team.
“We moved the ball really well offensively and were attacking and finding the open guy all night,” James said. “We had some mental breakdowns on the under-the-basket, out-of-bounds plays that probably cost us the game. Hard to overcome those mistakes and beat a top 10 team in the state.”
The coach added, “It was a great learning experience. I think this game showed us that we can play with anyone. When we clean up a few things, we will be very hard to beat.”
Hale led Martin County with 34 points, Dray Duff and Jacob Sturgell each scored 12, Brayden McKenzie contributed 10 and Peyton Davis added eight.
Noah led all scorers with 54 points for Harlan County, Caleb Johnson added 12, Reggie Cottrell had eight, and Brody Napier, Jaycee Carter and Maddox Huff each contributed four.
The Cardinals were back home Tuesday (Dec. 12) against Betsy Layne. The results of that game were not available at press time.
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