Bears open summer slate with two wins
Published 9:30 pm Saturday, May 26, 2018
Chris Jones | Daily Enterprise
Harlan County sophomore guard James Smith worked inside for a shot in scrimmage action Friday. The Bears defeated Letcher and Whitley County to open their summer schedule.
Harlan County opened its summer schedule with a pair of victories Friday at home, opening with a 62-50 win over Letcher before closing the five-scrimmage schedule with an impressive 77-30 rout of Whitley County.
Senior guard Alex Pace, the Bears’ leading scorer last year, scored 20 points in the win over Letcher. Gabe Price, Tayor Spurlock and Jacob Wilson added 10 points each. Patrick Bynum and Tyler Cole scored four each. James Smith and Josh Turner added two each.
Pace, Price and Spurlock each hit 3-pointers in the first quarter as HCHS built a 15-8 lead.
Letcher fought back to take a brief lead before Pace sparked a late run that put the Bears up 31-25 at halftime.
Bynum, Coe, Turner, Wilson, Pace and Spurlock each had baskets in the third quarter as the lead grew to 45-35.
Pace hit two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, while Wilson scored five points and Price added four as the Bears pulled away late.
With Smith at the controls, the HCHS offense came out on fire against Whitley as Price and Wilson each had three baskets and Cole and Spurlock added two each as the Bears outscored the Colonels 28-13 in the opening period.
The lead grew to 50-20 at halftime as Turner scored two baskets off the bench and Pace added five points.
Harlan County’s lead grew to 62-23 after three quarters as Smith scored twice, including a 3-pointer.
Cole and Price each had two baskets in the fourth quarter as HCHS outscored Whitley 15-7 in the final period.
Letcher Central edged Whitley County 46-40 in the other varsity scrimmage of the evening.
Harlan County split two junior varsity games, defeating Letcher Central 46-35 and falling to Whitley County 42-26.
Alex Nantz scored 15 points and Garry Henson added 11 in the win over Letcher. Jayden Ward tossed in eight points and was followed by Adam Boggs with six points, Hunter Helton with four and Caleb Reynolds with two.
Nantz scored eight against Whitley. Henson and Ward added seven each. Helton tossed in four.
Harlan County will return to action May 30 and June 1 at Hazard.
Both Harlan County and Harlan will play in a team camp at Lincoln Memorial University on June 7-9.
The Harlan County and Harlan girls teams will be in action Tuesday in a camp at Corbin.
