Favorites since winning the preseason Black Bears Shootout at Harlan County High School, the Rosspoint Wildcats completed a championship run on the same court against the same opponent.

Rosspoint held off several comeback attempts by Wallins to edge the Purple Devils 38-35 in the championship game of the fifth- and sixth-grade division on Friday at HCHS.

There was no shortage of subplots to the championship game, beginning with it being the first ever played at Harlan County High School. The game also matched nephew (Rosspoint coach Johnny Simpson) against uncle (Wallins coach Robert Simpson).

“Wallins is a phenomenal team and Robert was my seventh- and eighth-grade coach, and I know how hard he works them. He had a great gameplan and had us frustrated for a while, but my boys have played in a lot of tough games,” said Johnny Simpson, who led Rosspoint to a championship in his first year as head coach. Simpson was an assistant for last year’s championship squad led by longtime coach Ralph Napier.

“We lost nine of 11 players off that championship, so this is a new group,” Simpson said. “We played AAU and went everywhere. This is a tight-knit group and they don’t care who scores. This is a great group.”

Brody Napier, the only starter back for Rosspoint, scored 17 points to lead the Wildcats, who improved to 28-5 overall after finishing unbeaten against county competition

“That was our gamplan, to pound it inside,” Simpson said. “My goal was to get their big boys in foul trouble because they are very tough on the boards, especially Conner Daniels and Hunter Napier.”

Evan Simpson led the 17-6 Devils with 11 points. Daniels and Trenton Cole added 10 each.

The game was close throughout with eight ties in the first half when neither team led by more than two points. Wallins took a 10-9 lead at the end of the first quarter on a basket by Daniels. Rosspoint went up 20-19 at halftime when Napier hit one of two at the line when the Wallins coach was hit with a technical while calling a timeout in the final seconds of the half.

Baskets by Jayce Brown, Luke Kelly and Napier helped Rosspoint take its biggest lead of the night, at 31-23, with 1:42 left in the third quarter. Evan Simpson hit a 3-pointer to close the third period, then another early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to two.

Ethan Simpson and Trenton Cole each had baskets in the fourth quarter as Wallins pulled even twice. Napier scored with 48 seconds left to put Rosspoint up by two.

After a Wallins miss, the Devils were forced to foul but had only two team fouls, so they spent all but the final 3.4 seconds fouling to get Rosspoint into the bonus. Brown hit one of two free throws to close the scoring. Wallins was unable to get off a potential tying 3-pointer.

The county seventh- and eighth-grade tournament opens Saturday at James A. Cawood.

———

Rosspoint (38) — Brett Johnson 4, Brody Napier 17, Brody Branson 5, Jayce Brown 5, Luke Kelly 7.

Wallins (35) — Evan Simpson 11, Ethan Simpson 4, Trenton Cole 10, Conner Daniels 10.

———

Evarts rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to pull even in the final minutes, but James A. Cawood center Jaycee Carter scored the game-winning basket as the Trojans edged the Wildcats 46-44 for third place.

Carter scored 18 to lead JACES. Kaden Jones and Brennan Blevins added 12 and 10 points, respectively

Ashton Sizemore scored 16 to lead Evarts. Aiden Bunch added 14 points.

———

James A. Cawood (46) — Jaycee Carter 18, Kaden Jones 12, Brennan Blevins 10, Logan Couch 6.

Evarts (44) — Grayson Grills 3, Benjamin Coleman 4, Ashton Sizemore 16, Aiden Bunch 14, Jacob DeLeon 5, Bryce Mabes 2.