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By John Henson

Contributing Sports Writer

Trent Noah wrote his name in the Harlan County sports history books with 6:07 left in Saturday’s game against visiting Boyd County when he caught a deflected pass in the lane and went in for a layup, breaking the county scoring record held since 1995 by Harlan guard Charles Thomas.

Thomas scored 3,365 in his five years at Harlan, earning Mr. Basketball honors before going on to play at the University of Minnesota. Noah finished with 38 points in the 93-75 win and now has 3,375 points in his five-year career.

“It’s awesome to be written in history, and I couldn’t do it without my teammates and coaches always putting me in the right spots, but it’s definitely an honor,” Noah said after the game.

Noah met Thomas, who now lives in Lexington, for the first time earlier this month when the Black Bears played at Harlan.

“I hadn’t met him before, but I had heard a whole lot about him,” Noah said. “He played in the final four with Minnesota and was an excellent player.”

Harlan County coach Kyle Jones played with Thomas for one season when he was an eighth grader and sees similarities between the two all-staters.

“I was tickled to death with everything tonight, the way we played and Trent breaking the record,” Jones said. “I wasn’t old enough to really remember seeing Nick Sanford or Phil Cox play, but Charles was such a special player. He was a humble guy like Trent who worked for everything he got. Trent is a special kid, and I know he is just as glad to get the win tonight.”

“We definitely had a good game, especially on the defensive end. I think we’re peaking now towards the end of the year,” Noah said. “That’s all you can ask for.”

County Scoring List

• Trent Noah 3,375 2024 
• Charles Thomas 3,365 1995
• Jordan Akal 2,629 2022
• Blake Hubbs 2,618 2005
• Phil Cox 2,401 1981
• Jeff Miller 2,397 1986
• Wah Wah Jones 2,332 1945
• John Smith 2,319 2007
• Casey Lester 2,298 1996
• Chris Wilson 2,164 2003
• Mike Granato 2,083 1964