Hazard earns third place with win over Wolfe County

HAZARD, Ky. (WYMT) - The Hazard Bulldogs earned third place in the WYMT Food City Mountain Basketball Classic Presented by your local Kentucky Farm Bureau Agents and sponsored by ARH Saturday, beating Wolfe County 59-52 in both teams second game of the day.

Hazard, who won the WYMT Food City Mountain Basketball Classic, was defeated by the Harlan County Black Bears in the Semifinals earlier Saturday. The Bulldogs were able to bring home the third place title.

“It means a lot,” said Andrew Ford who scored 19 points in the game against WC and earned a spot on the all-tournament team. “There are a lot of good teams in the tournament so just to bring home any trophy is special.”

Wade Pelfrey also joined Ford on the all-tournament team. The senior had 20 points in the win.

“It was really tiring,” said Pelfrey. It took be back to my younger days playing multiple games in the same day except I think I am getting to old to be doing this know. My hips are hurting pretty bad,” he joked.

Wolfe County was defeated by Knox Central in the second semifinal game, and turned around for the third place game less than two hours later.

The Wolves were lead by Jas Johnson who scored 23 of his 47 points on the day in the third place game. The stellar, gutsy performance from Johnson earned him a spot on the all tournament team.

“This means a lot to me,” Johnson said leaving the gym on his way for some much deserved rest. “It is a testament to all my hard work and hours spent in the gym and a nice tournament run with my team.

Sawyer Thompson also made the tournament team representing the Wolves.

Wolfe County may have ended their tournament 1-2, but faced, and hung tough with three great teams. The Wolves, who are ranked tenth in the Alice Lloyd College Mountain Top 10, beat Buckhorn 75-43 on Tuesday. The Wildcats are always a dark horse in the 54th district, the same district of Saturday Night’s opponent Hazard. Knox Central is the 13th Region back-to-back defending champions who squeaked out a six point win over the Wolves. Then of course the defending WYMT Food City Mountain Basketball Classic and 14th Region Champions who also won by less than 10 points.

The Wolves regular season will continue Wednesday against Breathitt County as the wolves look to bounce back and fight towards a deep Region run where they could see Hazard again.

Hazard is scheduled to play Lee County Monday.

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