Noah’s 66 lifts Black Bears over Cordia
Published 9:30 am Sunday, January 23, 2022
- Harlan County sophomore guard Trent Noah had an awesome week last week. Scoring 176 points in four games as the Bears posted a 3-1 record. His average was 44 points per game, following his career-high 66 points against Cordia on Saturday. HC defeated the Lions 128-105. (Submitted photo)
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The late, great Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones would have been nervous if he was in attendance of Saturday’s Cordia-Harlan County boys game.
Jones holds the county scoring record for one game with 68 points scored, set back in 1943 against Artemus.
Harlan County sophomore guard Trent Noah has been setting school records for scoring the past week. On Saturday, Noah fired in 66 points to lead the Black Bears to a 128-105 victory over the visiting Lions.
Noah was 25 of 33 from the field, making just three 3-pointers while hitting 13 of 16 free throws. He also had 10 rebounds.
“I really don’t know what to say about 66 points. He was obviously a matchup problem for them,” said Harlan County coach Michael Jones. “He had a great game and we needed it tonight.”
Junior guard Daniel Carmical poured in 25 points while senior guard Jackson Huff scored 21 points and dished out nine assists. Tristan Cooper, a sophomore forward, tossed in nine points and six rebounds. Jeremiah Clem added five points and seven assists while Brody Napier had two points.
“We didn’t have anyone who could stop him,” Cordia coach Dennis Ray Farler said of Noah. “Our game plan was for him to get his (points) and try to stop everybody else. It worked in the first half.”
Cordia scored 10 unanswered points early in the fourth quarter and trailed 93-86 with 5:25 remaining..
Carmical nailed a 3-pointer, Noah had a basket and Clem hit two free throws to make it 100-88 with just over four minutes minutes to play.
Both teams played no defense the rest of the game as HC outscored the Lions 25-17 the last 4:13.
Senior guard Nazim Welch paced Cordia with 32 points. Freshman guard Greg Brooks poured in 27 points while senior forward/guard Gordon Malone scored 20. Jago Robinson contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds Samiar Bennett added seven points.
Harlan County was 47 of 73 for 64 percent from the field. The Lions shot 61 percent (43 of 70) for the game.
“We shoot the ball pretty well, but we have a hard time pulling it together for a whole game,” said Farler.
The Black Bears obviously set the school record for scoring by a team with 128.
“That’s the wildest game I’ve ever been involved in, player or coach,” Jones said. “It’s crazy you have to score 128 to win a game, but they shot lights out the first half. We knew they were capable of that. They score 91 at Breathitt County. They have some really nice players. We had a hard time matching up with (Brooks and Welch), but I’m proud of the way our kids battled coming off a tough loss (Madison Southern) last night (Friday). We adjusted some things offensively and made a run. Daniel and Jackson were phenomenal offensively, and we got some good things out of Jeremiah Clem and Tristan Cooper. I’m proud of our overall effort.”
The game was tied four times and the lead changed hands six occasions. HC led 24-23 after eight minutes as Noah poured in 19 points, including a pair of three-point plays.
Welch scored eight points in the second quarter as the Lions took a 45-44 edge at halftime.
Noah 3-pointer at the 3:06 mark of the third quarter tied the game at 61-61. A putback by Noah 12 seconds later gave the Black Bears the lead for good.
HC outscored Cordia 38-23 in the third period and took an 82-68 decision into the final quarter.
Noah scored 14 points in the fourth quarter while Carmical added 11 and Huff scored eight.
The Black Bears continued to be without the services of Maddox Huff, Jonah Swanner and Ethan Simpson.
Harlan County (15-5) will travel to South Laurel on Tuesday, Corbin on Thursday and visits Hoosier Gym on Saturday, taking on DeSales at 2 p.m.
Cordia (5-8) will play three road games this week. The Lions will visit Knox Central on Tuesday, Clay County on Thursday and Belfry on Friday.
Madison Southern tops HC
The play of sophomore guard Jay Rose on Friday was the difference as visiting Madison Southern defeated the Black Bears 60-58.
Rose fired in 31 points to lead the Eagles. Senior center Nate Turner tossed in 12 points and seven rebounds. Brett Erslan scored seven while Nraden Hudson added six.
HC’s Trent Noah missed a half-court shot with two seconds remaining as Madison Southern escaped with a road win.
The Black Bears were led in scoring by Noah’s 24 point effort. Carmical finished with 15 while Jackson Huff added nine points and seven rebounds, HS also got seven points from Clem. Brody Napier added three.
“We’ve been in a lot of games against really good teams and we haven’t been able to finish,” Newton said. “I know they were down a couple of guys but I told our guys if you can come to Harlan County and get a win it’s huge for us. This gives our guys a lot of confidence.”
The Black Bears were missing Huff, Swanner and Simpson.
“I told the kids two things before I left the locker room, that I was proud of them for battling back when they could have laid down and I didn’t want any excuses for people being out,” Harlan County coach Michael Jones said. “We have others on this team who earned their spot and they have to be able to perform when someone is out. I was disappointed at halftime that some of our kids weren’t taking advantage of an opportunity. We’ll learn from it. They have a nice ball club and Rose is a good player we had a hard time defending. They also had two big kids that were a mismatch for us.”
Madison Southern took a 12-8 advantage after one quarter and led 28-20 at the break.
The Eagles went into the final quarter ahead 45-36.
A jumper by Noah at the 1:32 mark of the fourth quarter allowed the Bears to pull within 56-54.
A trey by Jackson Huff with 23 seconds left to play, tied the game at 58-all.
Turner’s basket with 4.9 seconds remaining gave Madison Southern the win.
“This should make us better for the push to the district tournament,” Jones said. “We’ll be in a game where we have to play some people who don’t normally play a lot. This will give us some experience and make us better in the long run.”
The 12-6 Eagles will travel to North Laurel on Monday before hosting Somerset on Tuesday. Madison Southern visits Berea on Friday.
Bears perfect against LCC
It a team Harlan County has never lost to and the streak continued on Thursday following an 80-68 win over visiting Letcher Central.
The Black Bears are a perfect 11-0 against the Cougars, who had matchup issues against HC’s Noah.
Noah nailed 23 of 26 free throws and finished with 44 points for Harlan County.
“Any time you can get to the free-throw line 26 times, that’s always a positive, especially the way he shoots it. He kept asking for the ball, and that shows he’s maturing as. a player,” said Harlan County coach Michael Jones. “I’ve watched a lot of film and that’s the hardest playing team I’ve seen on film. They get after you and make you earn everything you get. We had to be aggressive and play down hill.”
The Bears were already without the services of Maddox Huff and reserve Ethan Simpson. Swanner, miss the second half due to sickness.
Letcher Central played without two starters in Nigel Nichols and Kayden Adams.
Carmical scored 16 points for the Black Bears.
The Cougars were led by Bodie Bentley with 17 points. Avantae Higgins and Peyton Dixon contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The Cougars took a 14-12 lead on a 3-pointer by Ethan Whitaker, but a four-point play by Carmical put the Bears back on top, this time for good.
Letcher Central hit seven of 11 shots in the opening quarter but trailed 22-19.
Brody Napier knocked down six poiints in the second quarter for HC. Noah had two baskets and hit 17 of 19 at the line in the first half as the Bears built a 52-36 lead.
“Brody has grown up a lot in practice and through junior varsity and freshmen games. He did a phenomenal job tonight,” Jones said. “He made a few mistakes, which is expected in his first extensive action, but I was proud of the way he got down the lane and scored and knocked down a 3. That’s how we want our kids to play off the bench.”
Noah had four baskets in the third quarter as the Bears’ built a 68-50. advantage.
Clem also provided a lift with eight rebounds in the second half second half.
“Jeremiah came in and played hard. He played like he did this summer,” Jones said. “We hope he can continue that so we can give him some more minutes.”
The 6-11 Cougars will host Perry Central on Tuesday, before traveling to Wolfe County on Thursday and Hazard on Friday.
• • • •
SPORTS NOTEBOOK
Harlan County defeats Letcher Central
Letcher Central forced overtime with three free throws with .5 seconds left in regulation, but Harlan County took over in the extra period on the way to a 40-33 victory.
Eighth-grade forward Hunter Napier scored 14 points to lead the 5-3 Black Bears. Brody Napier and Jaycee Carter added nine and eight points, respectively. Caleb Johnson scored seven. Taelor Haywood chipped in with two.
Cooper Bailey led the Cougars with 12 points. Gavin Ramey scored nine.
Shuler leads Cawood past Redskins
Ethan Shuler fired in 19 points and Brady Smith scored 11 as Cawood claimed a 41-21 win over Cumberland last week in fifth- and sixth-grade basketball action.
Brayden Smith tossed in five points for the Comets. Gage Peck added four points and Tucker Curtis scored two.
Zayden Casolari led Cumberland with eight points. Kayden Adams followed with seven. Landon Cook scored four while Bo Eldridge added two.
Harlan County All-Time Leading Scorers in a Game
68 — Wallace “Wah-Wah” Jones (Harlan vs. Artemus, Nov. 30, 1943)
66 — Trent Noah (Harlan County vs. Cordia, Jan. 22, 2022)
61 — Mike Granato (Cumberland vs. Letcher, Feb. 21, 1964)
56 — Nick Sanford (Cawood vs. Oneida Baptist, Feb. 21, 1986)
56 — Jimmy Adams (Hall vs. Leslie County, Dec. 23, 1958)
55 — Larry Brown (Lynch vs. Cumberland, Feb. 7, 1970)
55 — Nick Sanford (Cawood vs. Fleming-Neon, Jan. 8, 1985)
52 — Mike Granato (Cumberland vs. McCreary County, Feb. 1, 1964)
51 — Nick Sanford (Cawood vs. Evarts, Feb. 5, 1985)
50 — Chris Wilson (Evarts vs. Riverside Christian, Feb. 15, 2002)
Sports contributor Paul Lunsford wrote this for the Harlan Enterprise.
