The Green County Dragons (24-4), lost the 5th Region Boys basketball semifinals in a heartbreaking loss to North Hardin (21-9), even after they had won their past 10 out of 11 games. With the score being finalized at 63-60, the Dragons just fell short of the win.
As the referees’ whistle echoed throughout the gym, the game began with a strong lead in Green County’s favor of 9-4. Scores began to be added up by the players. Junior shooting guard Eric James Jr. led all scorers with 28 solid points. Freshman shooting, and point guard, Cooper Stone followed behind him, who had tossed in 15. Also a shooting, and point guard, Senior Hayden Blakeman brought and sank nine points into the rim. Junior power forward Modibo Kouyate chipped in six, and senior shooting guard Jayden Marr added two. With around 4:10 left in the stanza, the Dragons cemented their beginning lead with 13-4. The clock continued to diminish, but Green refused to let that stop them from making trips to the basket. James Jr. scored 10 straight, including a thunderbolt dunk, to help the Dragons explode out to the margin. Pulling themselves even further into the lead with a quarter-ending score of 20-11.
Quickly the second period erupted into action, and the Dragons continued to show North Hardin their power. As the game went back and forth and tightened up, Green was able to continue to widen the score gap. James Jr. knocked down a long three-pointer, bringing the score to 28-20 with 3:12 left in the second quarter. Over the course of the first half, they led by as many as 13 points. Blakeman made an outstanding bank shot just before the intermission, finalizing their score going into halftime at a stable 32-24.
The Dragons paced their scoring act in the third quarter, giving them their largest lead of 14, at that point in the night. With 5:49 left in the third, Green County held onto their score of 38–24 as tight as they could. Stone and Kouyate aided in this lead, and scored back-to-back buckets late in the stanza, squeezing between a couple of North Hardin free throws. Leading to the period-ending score of 45-38, as the last quarter began its play.
As things tightened up in the final quarter, Green County continued to cling to their lead, the score becoming 49-44 with 5:19 to go on the clock. North Hardin tied the game 52 apiece at the 3:50 mark. Continuing to go toe-to-toe from there, as the game balanced out in the regulation, the two teams would find themselves in overtime, knotted at 56 all.
Within the newly allotted time, North Hardin came out and won, outscoring Green County in the final 4 minutes, 7-4, ending the Dragons’ season with a score of 63-60. Although the Dragons won’t be making it to Rupp Arena this year for the Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 Tournament, there is always next year.
“It’s kind of a bittersweet situation,” head coach Jordan Gilbert said. “We have kids that have put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into this. It’s upsetting to not go all the way, but all we can do is
try and lace them up and do better next time. We are going to go back to the drawing board, and try again next year.”
Overall the Dragons shot 22-55 from the field and had 13 helpful assists, along with the tally of their 16 turnovers in the game.
(By: Jenna George)