GLASGOW — Barren County senior Jared Coomer was simply in a zone against archrival Glasgow on Friday night.
Coomer scored 16 of his 28 points in the first half to propel Barren County to a 32-22 halftime lead and lift the Trojans to a 60-53 victory over the Scotties—marking their 13th straight victory over their crosstown rival.
Barren County (12-9, 4-2 District 15) was in a bit of a dry spell when the Trojans dropped four straight games, but Barren has answered right back with four wins behind the stellar play as of late from Coomer.
“Every team will have their ups and downs,” Barren County coach Warren Cunningham said. “You have those moments where it’s a struggle. Sometimes you overcome those things and find ways to win, but we didn’t during that tough stretch. (Coomer) went through a tough stretch, and you just have to play your way out of it.”
On Friday night Coomer torched the nets in front of his home crowd, netting 11-of-15 field goals and finding the bottom of the net on all four of the 3-pointers he attempted in the first half.
“My teammates kept getting me the ball,” Coomer said. “I started making shots early on, and that first shot going in just helped my confidence throughout the game.”
Coomer may have been in such good form due to the extra practice that he and a teammate had gotten in that morning before most students in the county were even awake.
“I come in the gym this morning and he and Will Bandy we’re working out at 6:30,” Cunningham said. “It showed in the way they played tonight.”
Bandy also had a great game for Barren County as he finished as the Trojans’ second-leading scorer with 16 points—including his team’s first seven points of the game.
“He got us off to a good start,” Cunningham said. “He’s just good because of all the different ways he can score. He can step out on the floor and make it , score around the basket or get rebounds and score it. He’s a really good player, and it’s just been a matter of him feeling comfortable and us getting him the ball in those situations, and our guys have done a good job of that.”
Despite Bandy’s hot start, Glasgow led 16-12 in the final seconds of the first quarter before Coomer swished a trifecta from the right wing just before the buzzer.
Coomer then opened up the second quarter with a jumper from the right short corner to put the Trojans in front 17-16, and Barren County would never trail again the rest of the night.
The Scotties (16-5, 3-2) had a remarkable putback slam by Dalvin Smith to cut it 29-22, but Coomer netted a shot from deep in the left corner to make it 32-22 at the intermission.
Similar to what he did in the first half, Bandy came out of the locker room and scored five unanswered points to give Barren County a 37-22 lead at the 6:31 mark of the third quarter.
Smith had another highlight-reel dunk after he drove right into the teeth of the Trojan defense late in the third quarter to cut it to 41-32 , but Barren ended the frame on a 8-4 run to take a 49-36 lead into the fourth.
The Trojans were outscored 17-11 in the final eight minutes, but Barren was able to settle down in the half-court and not turn the ball over to hang on for victory.
“We had to keep them out of transition and we were able to score and keep them out of transition for the most part,” Cunningham said. “We just have to keep them away from the rim, and I thought for the most part we did a good job of that.”
Coomer led Barren County with 28 points, and the senior also added eight rebounds in the win. Bandy finished with 16 points to complement three assists and four rebounds while Brandon Reed added six points for the Trojans.
Smith topped all Glasgow scorers with 19 points, and Peyton Mills and Kobe Brents each tailed 11 in the loss.
The Scotties will look to return to the winning path at Warren East on Saturday night while Barren County will travel to Elkton to take on Todd County Central.
