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By JOHN HENSON
Harlan County Sports.com
WHITESBURG — For two rebuilding teams not getting quite as much preseason attention as they are accustomed to, the Harlan County Black Bears and Letcher Central Cougars got the 2013-2014 season off to an exciting start Tuesday with a down-to-the-wire thriller.
Harlan County (1-0) was at its best down the stretch, rallying from five points down in the fourth quarter to claim a 61-57 win over the host Cougars and give coach Mike Jones his 600th career win. Jones is only the 19th boys coach in Kentucky history to reach that plateau.
"We had to slow down a little. We were playing too fast and got out of our offense. We talked at the half about attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line," Jones said. "We did a good job the second half. They hung in there and executed some of the things we work on in practice."
Junior forward Zach Caldwell hit four 3-pointers in the first half and finished with a team-high 17 points. Freshman guard Cameron Carmical came off the bench to add 12 points.
Carmical and classmate Treyce Spurlock both played well for the Bears in their first varsity games. Carmical scored in the lane to cut a three-point deficit to one with 2:19 left. Two free throws by Spurlock put the Bears on top by one with 1:48 left.
Two free throws by senior guard Chippy Frazier, who led Letcher with 23 points, put the Cougars back up by one with 1:14 to play.
Junior point guard Cody Bumgardner answered for the Bears with a drive to the basket that made the score 57-56 with 1:04 left.
After an offensive foul on Letcher, Carmical hit one of two at the line to extend the lead to two with 36 seconds remaining. Frazier had a chance to tie the game with 32 seconds left but missed the second shot. Junior center Fred Massey came up with the first of two huge rebounds to give HCHS the ball back. Caldwell drew a foul with 18 seconds to play and hit one of two. Massey was again there for the rebound that all but decided the game as the Bears ran the clock down to 2.8 seconds before Trey Sanders was fouled. Sanders hit both shots to seal the win.
"I think we've got a lot of things to work on. We had a couple of bright spots, but we have to go back and work on some things tomorrow. It was a good early game for both of us, I think," Letcher Central coach Robert Hammonds said. "I think they are just physically bigger and stronger than us right now and that hurt us on the boards at the end."
Harlan County returns to action Tuesday in its home opener against Pineville as part of a girls/boys doubleheader.
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Cameron Carmical and Jared Sizemore each scored 11 points as Harlan County held off a late Letcher Central rally to win 51-50 in the junior varsity game.
Josh Lee scored nine for the Bears, followed by Cody Brewer with eight, Treyce Spurlock with six, David Turner with four and Tommy North and Will Bowling with one each.
Austin Caudill had four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to spark the Cougars' comeback bid and finished with a team-high 15 points. Tyler Collins scored 11, followed by Jordan Gregory with eight, Tanner Lucas with six, Austin Polly with five, Austin Caudill with three and Tevin WIlliams with two.
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HARLAN COUNTY (1-0)
Cody Bumgardner 1-6 3-4 5, Trey Sanders 1-4 5-6 7, Zach Caldwell 6-11 1-2 17, Scotty Bailey 2-3, 1-2 5, Fred Massey 1-2 4-6 6, Cameron Carmical 3-7 6-8 13, Treyce Spurlock 2-5 2-2 6, Josh Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Cody Brewer 0-0 0-0 0, David Turner 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-39 22-30 61.
LETCHER CENTRAL (0-1)
Chippy Frazier 7-14 5-8 23, Jordan Morrow 1-4 0-0 2, Hunter Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Torell Carter 1-1 0-0 2, Josh Owens 6-11 0-2 12, Tyler Collins 3-3 2-2 8, Jordan Gregory 4-6 2-3 10, Kyler Lucas 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-40 9-15 57.

Harlan County 16 11 13 21 — 61
Letcher Central 14 17 14 12 — 57
3-point goals: Harlan County 5-16 (Caldwell 4-9, Carmical 1-3, Bumgardner 0-1, Sanders 0-1, Spurlock 0-2), Letcher Central 4-10 (Frazier 4-7, Gregory 0-1, Morrow 0-2). Rebounds: Harlan County 21 (Massey 7, Caldwell 4, Bailey 4, Bumgardner 2, Lee 2, Sanders 1, Spurlock 1). Turnovers: Harlan County 11, Letcher Central 20. Fouled out: Harlan County (Bumgardner), Letcher Central (Carter). Technical fouls: Letcher Central (bench).