LOUISVILLE, Ky. | The Young Harris men's basketball team traveled the six-hour journey to the KFC! Yum Center on Sunday; the Mountain Lions had the extraordinary opportunity to face-off against the Louisville Cardinals on Monday (Oct. 21) evening in front of thousands of fans. Young Harris held their own against the Division One Louisville Cardinals, while also creating some flashy plays along the way. Karl Chavis led the team in points and had a couple of slam dunks in front of the Louisville faithful, while Carl Cleveland was just one rebound shy of a double double (nine rebounds and ten points). Overall, the Mountain Lions earned a leg up over the other Conference Carolinas teams this evening; playing against Louisville, and the experience that carries will elevate them to new heights with the season just around the corner.

QUOTABLE:
"It was great, a great opportunity for our guys, and it was a great trip. Could not be more proud of the resiliency of our team; Great togetherness and a lot of winning behaviors out there that will carry over nicely to our season, so I am tremendously proud of our players." Currier elaborated on how the Mountain Lions were able to secure the game against division one opponent Louisville, "Two of the coaches on the Louisville staff, one of them was my former assistant, another one, we have known each other for fifteen years, so those are some of my closest friends in the business. Extremely thankful to coach Kelsey and his staff for allowing us to have this opportunity. I think we have a lot to build on, I am thrilled to have over thirty points in the paint against a tough defensive team; I'm thrilled at how hard our players crashed on offense, we had 12 offensive rebounds." Continuing, "I think the biggest thing that we are going to take away from was our energy and spirit of the group. I challenged them to have great huddles, be positive, elevate teammates, and I am just absolutely proud of our team and the energy that they brought. I think great teams have great teammates and we have great teammates."

NOTABLE STATS: 

• Karl Chavis led the Mountain Lions with 15 points, while also adding two assists. 

• Kennedy Willis (12) and Carl Cleveland (10) both had double digit points, with Cleveland finishing one rebound shy of the double double. 

• Reyne Smith (20) and Terrance Edwards Jr. (24) were the top two scorers for Louisville. 

• Justin Payne and Morgan Rashed each posted two steals. 

• James Scott led the Cardinals with nine rebounds. 

FIRST HALF: 

• Carl Cleveland recorded the first Mountain Lions rebound and Karl Chavis scored the first YHC point. 

• Kolbe Ashe hammered down the first three for Young Harris. 

• The Cardinals constantly threw up threes in the first half, shooting 32 threes through the first 20 minutes. 

• The Mountain Lions kept up the energy, but the Louisville big guys out-rebounded Young Harris. 

SECOND HALF: 

• Karl Chavis set the standard for YHC, with back-to-back dunks. 

• Morgan Rashed recorded a steal and raced down the court for a quick two. 

• Young Harris played better defense in the second half, dropping the Louisville Field Goal percentage by 5%. 

• The final second half scoring was 43-32 in favor of Louisville, as the Mountain Lions made major halftime adjustments. 

UP NEXT:  

The Mountain Lions open up the regular season at the Southeast Region Crossover on Friday (Nov. 8) at 1:30 p.m. against Georgia College.