Mason County’s Nate Mitchell runs into Bracken County’s Jushod Commodore, Saturday, at The Fieldhouse. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

Mason County’s Nate Mitchell runs into Bracken County’s Jushod Commodore, Saturday, at The Fieldhouse. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

As if the high-scoring, competitive affair wasn’t enough, some heated exchanges took place Saturday night at The Fieldhouse when Mason County hosted Bracken County.

The Royals came in winners of 28 in a row over the Polar Bears dating back to 1999.

That streak moved to 29 with the Royals 82-76 victory.

But it didn’t stop there.

While Royals’ Nate Mitchell went for a career-high 34 points and Blake Reed countered with 39 of his own for the Polar Bears, what ensued after the game will make for an interesting draw come February 24 when the two find out their matchup for the 39th District Tournament.

“In an intense game, kids are going to go at each other. I thought it was a decently called game, thought the officials did a great job keeping the game under control. At the end of it, it is what it is, just proud of our guys the way they continued to battle, way they continued to compete and made enough plays down the stretch to pull out a win here tonight,” Royals coach Brian Kirk said.

The game was physical, as expected between two district rivals. Plenty of kids on the floor have known each other since elementary school, some even playing on same teams until transfers and what not took place. But in-between the lines, that gets thrown out.

“Rivalry game like this where all the kids know each other, they’re friends before the game, friends after the game, but during the 32 minutes they’re not friends,” Kirk said.

After an intentional foul from Blake Reed in the third quarter, things started to get really chippy from there as both teams had to be separated and relegated to their respective benches.

And a three-minute stretch after that in which the Polar Bears lost their cool may have cost them the game.

At 53-50 with roughly three minutes left in the third, a Mason Butler 3-pointer got the Royals lead to six. Reed’s intentional foul followed with Polar Bears coach Adam Reed picking up a technical foul shortly after that.

Before you knew it, a three-point lead turned into a Mason County 68-54 advantage after three quarters of play.

“Very proud of the way our guys kept their composure. Effort and attitude was the two biggest things that we focused on. Focus on the things we can control and those were the two things we did tonight and thought the guys did a great job with that,” Kirk said.

But the Polar Bears came out of the third quarter huddle fired up, responded to start the fourth with a 12-3 run of their own to get right back in it, down 71-66 with a little over four minutes to play. They’d get within four and had their chances late down five with a minute to go, but two missed free throws followed by two turnovers couldn’t get them over the hump.

The streak continues.

Things didn’t stop there however after the final horn, Adam Reed not happy with some words that were said during and after the game.

“We do have guys that fight for everything, but we don’t have any guys on our team like…let’s just be real. I’m not cussing kids out on the bench. I’m not cussing kids out on the bench like Mason County does. Calling my son and one of my players a (expletive) punk and look at the scoreboard from the head coach of Mason County? That’s a little classless to me,” Polar Bears coach Adam Reed said. “I feel like he knows it’s coming, he knows the pressure is on and he’s wanting to do anything and everything to get a win no matter what is going on. I stand on treating people good, treating kids good and eventually it’s going to happen for us.”

Stay tuned for February 24, where these two could be paired again at the 39th District Tournament draw and then meet again the week of March 15 with the season on the line.

“We came up short today, but we aren’t going to keep coming up short. We came up short today, but absolutely feel we’ll be ready for them,” Reed said. “We played hard, played good, our guards stepped up to the plate. We’re fighting our hardest to win and a few lapses there cost us tonight.”

Mitchell’s 34 paced the Royals, doing so efficiently, going 10-for-17 from the field with just one turnover on the night.

“Coach told me to get downhill and I just do what they say, they believe in me and my teammates do to,” Mitchell said. “I’m at my best when I’m getting downhill to the rim and getting downhill makes the defenders play back and I was hitting my outside shots tonight. It was important to show the 39th still runs through us.”

Phillip Bierley added 15 points and played pivotal in the run for the Royals at the end of the first half. Terrell Henry added 14 points to go with a team-high eight rebounds.

Reed led the Polar Bears with 39, white hot from the floor, hitting 15-of-22 from the field. His younger brother Cayden Reed went for 14.

Both teams shot it well, Mason County at 53 percent for the game, Bracken County at 52 percent. The Royals knocked down 23-of-32 from the line, the Polar Bears at 8-for-14.

Bracken County led 28-23 in the first half before a 15-4 Royals run gave them a 38-32 halftime edge. They built their lead to as large as 16 before Bracken County made their run.

Mason County now sits at 10-3 on the season, Bracken County dropping to 6-12.

ROYALS 82, POLAR BEARS 76

BRACKEN COUNTY — 17-15-22-22 — 76

MASON COUNTY — 18-20-30-14 — 82

Bracken (76) — B. Reed 39, C. Reed 14, Reynolds 9, Commodore 8, Jefferson 6

Mason (82) — Mitchell 34, Bierley 15, Henry 14, Butler 7, Perry 6, Marshall 3, Rice 3

Field Goals: Bracken 31/59, Mason 26/49

3-Pointers: Bracken 6/16, Mason 7/17

Free Throws: Bracken 8/14, Mason 23/32

Rebounds: Bracken 34 (Jefferson 10), Mason 29 (Henry 8)

Assists: Bracken 8 (Blake and Cayden Reed 3), Mason 11 (Perry and Henry 3)

Turnovers: Bracken 11, Mason 13

Fouls: Bracken 22, Mason 20

Records: Bracken County 6-12, Mason County 10-3