Bryan Robbins’ basket with five minutes to play put the Bobcats up 49-41, but they wouldn’t score the rest of the game. Harlan County scored the final nine points, capped by Kyle Hogue’s turn-around jumper from about four feet out with 5.5 seconds left.
Bell called a timeout with five seconds to go, but George Wilson was slowed by the Black Bear defense in the backcourt and had to settle for a heave from mid-court that was off the mark.
The loss ends the Bobcats’ season with a 12-13 record and, unfortunately, neither the boys or girls team will be playing in the 13th Region tournament which will be at Bell County next week.
“It’s been a tough year,” Bell coach Lewis Morris said. “Our kids have worked hard and had a good attitude. There’s been a lot of things going on and things just didn’t fall for us this year.”
The Bobcats looked to be complete control for most of the game. After falling behind 8-2 in the first five minutes, they stormed back to take a 16-10 lead by the end of the first quarter.
Mitchell Mayes hit a 3-pointer with just under three minutes to play in the first and Bell went into a press and started forcing turnovers. Following another Mayes basket, Wilson stole the inbounds pass and found Shawnta Zachery for a layup and the Bobcats had their first lead at 9-8 at the 1:40 mark. They wouldn’t trail again until the game’s final seconds.
Keith Lowe came off the bench and converted a three-point play, and Robbins and Wilson both scored on feeds from Zachery by the end of the quarter.
They led by as many as 12 in the second quarter on Wilson’s 3 with 2:38 remaining inthe half and took a 31-22 advantage into the locker room.
Baskets by Robbins and Mayes gave Bell their largest lead of the game, 35-22 at the 6:30 mark of the third quarter.
In just about every game, the losing team can point to some calls that didn’t go their way. But Harlan County definitely benefitted from getting more than their share of calls from that point on.
It was a physical game with bodies often hitting the floor during the chase for rebounds and on two occasion a double fouls were called to try and ease the roughing.
But the Bobcats were whistled five times over a three minute span as the Bears were in the bonues by the 3:08 mark of the third quarter.
They went 8-of-10 from the free throw line in the quarter while Bell County was 1-of-2. For the game Harlan County hit 15-of-22 free throws to Bell’s 4-of-8.
A free throw from Tyrek Simmons and floater in the lane from T.J. Green cut the Bobcat lead to 42-36 going into the fourth.
“I didn’t think we got any calls but that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Morris said. “I give Harlan County credit, they kept fighting and they came back and did what they had to do, though.”
A steal and then a 3-pointer from Wilson put the Bobcats back up by nine, 45-36, early in the fourth. He also had the assist on Robbins’ layup with five minutes left that made the score 49-41.
Josh Caldwelll hit a free throw and Simmons knocked down a 3-pointer to bring the Bears within 49-45 with 3:53 to play.
The Bobcats missed three shots on their next two possessions instead of trying to run down the clock, but Robbins helped them stay out in front with a pair of rebounds on the defensive end.
The score was still 49-45 when Robbins was fouled with 2:06 to play. He missed both free throws but the rebound went out off of Harlan County’s Blake Polson. On a very questionable call, Mayes picked up his fifth foul on the play as the offical ruled that he had pushed Polson. Instead of Bell getting the ball back, Harlan County was again headed to the free throw line.
“I didn’t see nothing. I don’t know what he called,” Morris said. “Those things are big in games like this. I think we were up by four or five and if we get it back they’re going to have to foul again.”
Polson hit one of the free throws and Zachery came away with the rebound after he missed the second.
Up by three with time winding under two minutes, Bell again had an opportunity to try and run some clock and force the Bears to foul. Instead, Robbins had a shot blocked by Polson as he cut to the basket. Lowe got the offensive rebound and his layup attempt went halfway down before rattling out.
“I thought we did pretty good there for three and a half quarters,” Morris said. “You can’t ask for any more. You have the lead and the ball. We took some quick shots we didn’t have to shoot and missed some layups we probably should have made.
“It’s the same old story. You have to execute down at the end and you have to hit your free throws and make good decisions.”
Robbins blocked a pair of Black Bear shots at the other end, but Caldwell put back the last one to make it a one-point game, 49-48,with 1:20 to play.
This time Bell did run the clock down and Robbins was fouled with 26.9 seconds left. He missed the front end of the bonus and Caldwell pulled down the rebound.
Following a timeout, Harlan County got the ball to Hogue in the right corner and backed down along the baseline. He spun around Robbins and into the lane and put up what proved to be the game winner with John Dudley Hilton and Seth Chambers both in his face.
“They did a good job down the stretch of battling of fighting and getting it where they wanted it,” Bell County coach Lewis Morris said. “Coach (Mike) Jones does a good job when it gets in tight situations. He has some post kids they will go to, and they just manhandled there at the last.”
Hogue led all scorers with 16 points in the game, Simmons added 10 for the Bears and Caldwell finished with eight.
The Bobcats were led by Zachery’s 13 points, while Robbins and Wilson finished with 10 each and Mayes added nine.
It was the final game for Bell’s two seniors, Zachery and Wilson. Morris said they will be missed by the Bobcat program.
The Bobcats will have leading scorer Robbins back next season along with starters Mayes and Chambers. They’ll also have Ben Madon back, the sophomore guard misssed the end of this season with a broken wrist along with several young players who saw significant varsity action throughout the season.
“We lose two seniors and we’ve got work to do to get our younger kids ready,” Morris said. “We’ve just got to keep working and trying to build and hopefully will have a better year next year.”
Harlan County (13-13) advances to face Middlesboro Friday night at 7 p.m. in the 52nd District championship game.
— — —
Bell County 16 15 11 7 — 49
Harlan County 10 12 14 14 — 50
BELL COUNTY (49): Shawnta Zachery 13, Bryan Robbins 10, George Wilson 10, Mitchell Mayes 9, Seth Chambers 2, Keith Lowe 3, Tanner Lefevers 2, John Dudley Hilton 0.
HARLAN COUNTY (50): Kyle Hogue 16, Tyrek Simmons 10, Josh Caldwell 9, Blake Polson 8, T. J. Green 7, Dillon Cain 0, Dustin Bray 0.
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