WIth senior guards Andrew Taylor and Chandler Stewart teaming for 55 points, the Corbin Redhounds won an emotional rematch of last year’s 13th Region Tournament finals with a 71-61 victory Tuesday at Harlan County.

Taylor scored 31 points and Stewart added 24 as the Hounds improved to 18-5 and defeated the defending regional champion Black Bears for the second time this season. Harlan County led much of the first half as the Hounds came out ice cold before a late run helped Corbin build a 29-21 lead by halftime. The Hounds still led by eight midway through the third quarter before Harlan County put together a rally of its own to cut the deficit to two going into the final period.

Stewart and Taylor took over from there as each had three baskets in the period, several coming after Corbin coach Tony Pietrowski went to his spread offense with the Hounds holding a five-point lead. Taylor had six points in a 9-0 run that gave Corbin its biggest lead, at 63-49, with 3:11 left. Andrew Creech and Gabe Price each scored in a 6-0 run as the Bears battled back to within eight before Stewart, Chase Sanders and Taylor put the game away.

Harlan County (17-7) got a balanced offensive attack in its first game since learning senior guard Drew Nolan had suffered a partial ACL tear in a win over Harlan last week. Junior guard Alex Pace scored 13 points for the Bears, while Creech and Pace scored 12 each and senior forward Tyrese Simmons added 11 points and 15 rebounds despite being doubtful for the game most of the day due to illness.

Harlan County owned a 41-20 advantage on the boards but could not overcome a nine-for-20 performance at the free throw line, along with 22 turnovers.

“I thought our kids played extremely hard tonight and battled their tails off,” Harlan County coach Michael Jones said. “We missed a ton of layups and if you miss 11 of 20 at the free throw line you can’t expect to beat a team like Corbin. But I’m really proud of the kids’ effort. This is something to build on. They understand if we just finish around the rim and hit free throws we could have won the game. Ty is really sick and battled hard. They all played hard.”

Price and Patrick Bynum, both junior guards, had big games off the bench for the Bears.

“Both of them gave us a big spark,” Jones said. “Gabe was aggressive and did a good job on the boards. Patrick rebounded and did a good job on defense. With Drew out, those two have to contribute.”

Corbin travels to Whitley County on Thursday. Harlan County is home against Pike Central on Saturday.

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Sophomore guard Grant Morton scored 16 points and freshman guard Dalton Davenport added 14 as Corbin coasted to a 66-37 win in junior varsity action.

Freshman guard Tyler Cole led the 4-6 Bears with 12 points. Freshman center Kobe Burkhart contributed eight points, followed by Josh Turner with six, Elisha Smallwood and Alex Nantz with four each and Hunter Helton with three.

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CORBIN (18-5)

Andrew Taylor 11-18 8-10 31, Chandler Stewart 8-15 3-4 24, Brody Barton 1-1 0-1 2, Chase Sanders 2-9 3-4 7, Matthew Taylor 3-8 1-2 7, Cameron Maguet 0-0 0-0 0, Ethan Wine 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey Rice 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-51 15-20 71.

HARLAN COUNTY (17-7)

Andrew Creech 4-12 4-4 12, Taylor Spurlock 2-7 0-0 5, Alex Pace 5-11 0-0 13, Tyrese Simmons 4-11 3-8 11, Lamar Burkhart 1-3 0-0 2, Gabe Price 5-9 2-3 12, Patrick Bynum 3-4 0-0 6, A.J. Simmons 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-58 9-20 61.

Corbin 8 21 14 28 — 71

Harlan County 12 9 20 20 — 61

3-point goals: Corbin 6-22 (Stewart 5-10, A. Taylor 1-5, M. Taylor 0-2, Sanders 0-5), Harlan County 4-13 (Pace 3-6, Spurlock 1-1, Creech 0-3, Burkhart 0-3). Rebounds: Corbin 20 (A. Taylor 10, Barton 3, M. Taylor 3, Maguet 2, Sanders 1, Rice 1), Harlan County 41 (Simmons 15, Price 8, Burkhart 5, Bynum 5, Pace 4, Spurlock 3, Creech 1). Turnovers: Corbin 16, Harlan County 22. Foujled out: Corbin (Barton), Harlan County (Pace). Technical fouls: Corbin (Rice), Harlan County (Price, Burkhart).