‘Maybe some couches will be burned tonight’: Trent Noah powers Harlan Co. to state finals
For the first time since 2011, a boys basketball team from the mountains will play for Kentucky’s state championship.
Harlan County defeated Evangel Christian 55-47 on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena, setting up a showdown with Lyon County in the 2024 UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 championship game.
The Black Bears (34-4) are the first 13th Region champion since 1988 to reach the championship game. Clay County, led by future Kentucky Wildcat Richie Farmer, lost that year to Ballard, led by future Tennessee Volunteer Allan Houston.
This year’s title fight also pits a future Cat, Lyon County’s Travis Perry, against a rival bound for another SEC school. Harlan County star Trent Noah, who had 29 points, 10 rebounds and two steals against Evangel Christian, has signed with South Carolina.
“We’ve played in a lot of All-Star games together, we’ve played some AAU together,” Noah said. “He’s a really special player. I’m excited to see what he’ll do next year at the next level.
“I guess, we’re a little bit rivals tonight. But that’s my boy.”
Noah scored seven points as Harlan County jumped out to a 9-0 lead on Evangel. Christian Doerr responded in kind for the Eagles, scoring eight unanswered to get them on the board. Harlan maintained a two-possession lead thereafter until the middle of the second quarter, when Kyran Tilley scored 13 points in a flurry to help the Eagles build a 29-25 advantage. It appeared Evangel would take a lead into the locker room, but Noah connected on a 3-pointer in transition as time wound down.
The Black Bears built a 43-35 lead going into the fourth quarter, limiting the Eagles to just two makes on nine shot attempts. Doerr, who along with Tilley leads Evangel in scoring at 17 points per game, picked up his fourth foul with 2:13 left in the third but managed to play the entire fourth quarter until fouling out with 56.5 seconds left. He drew Evangel within 48-45 with 2:06 left, but the Black Bears closed on a 7-2 run to stunt the rally.
“We could never get into any offensive rhythm whatsoever,” Evangel coach Larry Miller said. “We shot a really low percentage, 29 percent. That’s never happened to us. I gotta give credit to Harlan for playing excellent defense.”
Harlan County didn’t fare much better from the field, hitting just 32.6% of its shots. The Eagles had trouble keeping Noah out of the paint and off the free-throw line; he connected on 16 of 18 bids from the stripe.
The Black Bears outrebounded Evangel, which boasted slightly more size, 38-32. A pair of offensive rebounds near the end of the third quarter resulted in a backdoor layup by Reggie Cottrell as time expired.
“It was a special moment,” Cottrell said. The crowd agreed; of the 12,618 in attendance, the majority were behind the Black Bears.
It’s reasonable to anticipate Harlan County and Lyon County will draw one of the biggest state championship crowds in some time. Saturday’s finals is to be the first played between two schools from rural counties since 2011, another battle of western Kentucky (Christian County) and eastern Kentucky (Rowan County).
The Black Bears will try to become the first mountain school to win it all since Shelby Valley cut down the nets in 2010.
“Hopefully we can do something really, really special for the community and fans,” Noah said. “I don’t know, maybe some couches will be burned tonight in Harlan County. There’s no telling what might happen.”
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