The Barbourville Tigers capitalized on their notable size advantage to dominate the boards Tuesday at Harlan and used a stellar third quarter to roll to a 67-45 victory over the host Green Dragons.

Barbourville outrebounded the Dragons 35-17, leading to several second-chance scoring opportunities.

“When they shot it, if they missed it, they went back and got it and put it in,” Harlan coach Derrick Akal said. “Any team getting that many offensive rebounds is going to be tough to beat, added on to the fact that they were shooting pretty well.”

The Tigers trailed 19-13 after the first quarter as Harlan got a hot start from Killian Ledford. The senior knocked down three 3-pointers and scored 11 points in the period to give the Dragons the early edge.

A three-point play by senior guard Cade Barnes put Harlan ahead 24-17 with 5:56 left in the second quarter, but the Tigers rallied quickly, tying the game with three baskets in 35 seconds. The teams exchanged baskets for the next two minutes, but Barbourville closed the half on a 10-2 run that included a pair of buckets inside by reserve forward Dakota Tye.

“Ledford scored early, and they went to a man-to-man, and they did a better job of locating him,” Akal said. “Barnes picked up a couple of fouls, and they did a better job of keeping it out of his hands. We struggled offensively.”

The Tigers put the game away by hitting 10 of 13 shots from the floor in the third quarter as they outscored Harlan 23-7. Sophomore guard Matthew Gray, held scoreless in the first half, scored eight points in the quarter, and senior forward Connor Bain added six.

The Dragons got no closer than 18 points in the fourth quarter. After John Eldridge converted a three-point play to cut Harlan’s deficit to 63-45 with 4:10 remaining, Barbourville ran two minutes off the clock on its next possession.

Ledford paced Harlan (4-4) with 18 points, and Barnes added 11. Harlan played without freshman point guard Jordan Akal, who was ejected Saturday in a win over Leslie County and must serve a two-game suspension.

The Tigers were led by JD McVey and Shawn Vaughn with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

The Dragons will travel to Pikeville on Tuesday, while Barbourville (6-2) will play host to McCreary Central.

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Dylan Moore scored 16 points and Jonathan Mills added 13 to lead Barbourville to a 51-42 victory in the junior varsity game.

Harlan was led by Carl Pacholewski with 12 points. Kaleb McClendon added eight, and Jaedyn Gist contributed seven. Rounding out the scoring were Johan Gist and Charles Morton with six apiece, and Noah Lewis with three.

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Barbourville 67, Harlan 45

BARBOURVILLE (6-2)

JD McVey 7-13 0-0 16, Matthew Gray 3-6 2-2 8, Shawn Vaughn 7-13 0-1 14, Jacob Helton 3-7 0-0 6, Connor Bain 5-6 0-2 10, Dylan Bingham 2-3 0-0 5, Dakota Tye 3-3 0-0 6, Jordan Collins 1-1 0-0 2, Dylan Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Michael Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Jonathan Mills 0-0 0-0 0, Joseph Smith 0-0 0-0 0, JT Hall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 31-52 2-5 67.

HARLAN (4-4)

Cade Barnes 5-13 1-1 11, Jared Hawkins 2-10 0-0 4, Killian Ledford 6-16 3-3 18, Jaedyn Gist 0-2 0-0 0, Jon Eldridge 4-7 1-1 9, Kaleb McClendon 1-2 0-0 3, Caleb Adkins 0-1 0-2 0, Tate Bryson 0-0 0-2 0, Charles Morton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-51 5-9 45.

Barbourville — 13 23 23 8 — 67

Harlan 19 11 7 8 — 45

3-point goals: Barbourville 3-10 (McVey 2-5, Bingham 1-2, Gray 0-1, Vaughn 0-2), Harlan 4-20 (Ledford 3-11, McClendon 1-1, Gist 0-1, Eldridge 0-1, Barnes 0-3, Hawkins 0-3). Rebounds: Barbourville 35 (Vaughn 8), Harlan 17 (Eldridge 6). Turnovers: Barbourville 6, Harlan 3. Fouled out: None.