WILLIAMBURG — A Whitley County offense dependent on the shooting of Corey Johnson for much of its success the past couple of years found a new path to victory on Monday against visiting Harlan.

Senior center Jarrett Carr hit his first six shots, all in the first quarter, and connected on nine of 10 for the game in an 18-point performance that helped lift the Colonels to a 72-42 victory.

“That’s probably the best game he’s had,” Whitley County coach Jerry Overbay said. “We did a good job of getting him the ball and he put it in the hole.”

“We should have done a better job on him,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “He did well posting up and we didn’t do a good job of getting help.”

Johnson took over in the second half and finished with a team-high 27 points as the Colonels improved to 7-16.

Harlan (3-13) was led by sophomore guard Jacob Wilson with 20 points.

Wilson kept Harlan in the game early with three baskets in the first quarter, including two 3-pointers, but the Dragons struggled to handle the Whitley pressure and to contain Carr, who dominated around the basket. He had two straight layups and Johnson hit two free throws for a 20-7 lead. Two straight baskets by Wilson cut the deficit to eight before Carr closed the period with a putback.

Harlan turned the ball over eight more times in the second quarter and finished with 18 for the game. Johnson, Carr and Dakota Lawson each had two baskets in the period as the Colonels’ lead grew to 41-24 by halftime.

“I thought our press hurt them,” Overbay said. “We got a lot of easy baskets off turnovers.”

“We aren’t handling pressure well and that’s on me,” Akal said. “It’s hard to us to get in offense right now. I have to do a better job of getting us in the right place.”

Whitley put the game away with a 15-0 run to open the second half as the Dragons missed their first five shots and didn’t score until Wilson converted a three-point play with 2:25 left in the period.

Harlan plays host to Harlan County on Friday.

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Hagan Hart scored 15 points to lead Whitley County to a 58-25 win in junior varsity action. Tanner Gilbert, Trent Downs and Devin Bowling added 11 points each.

Jacob Middleton paced Harlan (0-5) with nine points. Trey Barnes scored six, followed by Evan Aslinger with five and Conner Scearse with two.

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Whitley County 72, Harlan 42

HARLAN (3-13)

Jordan Akal 0-4 1-2 1, Cade Barnes 1-2 2-2 5, Jacob Wilson 7-12 3-5 20, Kilian Ledford 0-7 0-1 0, Jon Eldridge 4-5 0-0 8, Jared Hawkins 0-2 0-0 0, Carter Barnes 1-3 0-0 2, Tyler Carmical 2-3 0-0 6, Austin Adams 0-1 0-0 0, Tate Bryson 0-0 0-0 0, Caleb Adkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-39 6-10 42.

WHITLEY COUNTY (7-16)

Corey Johnson 8-18 10-10 27, Hunter Hollingsworth 3-5 0-0 6, Dakota Lawson 4-9 0-0 9, Tyler Lawson 3-6 4-4 10, Jarrett Carr 9-10 0-0 18, Devin Bowling 1-1 0-0 2, Bobby Downs 0-0 0-0 0, John Rowe 0-0 0-0 0, Matthew Paul 0-0 0-0 0, Tanner Gilbert 0-1 0-0 0, Cole Brown 0-0 0-1 0. Totals: 28-49 14-15 72.

Harlan 12 12 11 7 — 42

Whitley County 22 19 17 24 — 72

3-point goals: Harlan 6-24 (Wilson 3-7, Carmical 2-3, Cade Barnes 1-2, Hawkins 0-2, Akal 0-4, Ledford 0-6), Whitley County 2-9 (D. Lawson 1-3, Johnson 1-5, T. Lawson 0-1). Rebounds: Harlan 19 (Eldridge 5, Carter Barnes 5, Wilson 3, Cade Barnes 2, Ledford 2, Akal 1, Carmical 1), Whitley County 24 (Johnson 9, Hollingsworth 5, Carr 5, T. Lawson 4, Philpot 1). Turnovers: Harlan 18, Whitley County 5. Fouled out: None.