APPALACHIA, Va. — The Harlan Green Dragons spent the third quarter of their Coal Classic semifinal game taking control, then spent the fourth quarter giving it back.

The Dragons watched their 10-point lead evaporate in the final period as Coeburn battled back to claim a 47-46 win Tuesday at Appalachia High School.

The loss dropped the Dragons into a third-place rematch against Rye Cove, Va., whom they defeated 67-41 in the first round Monday.

Harlan (3-6) hit just one of seven shots in the final period while committing nine turnovers.

“I hate to say it, but we’re inexperienced,” Harlan coach Casey Lester said. “Hopefully, a game like this will help us when it comes down to the end of the game again.

“Our defense did enough to win. If you hold a team to 47 points, you should win. In the fourth quarter, we got complacent and quit attacking. We never told them not to try to score – they just quit trying to score.”

Philip Ely got hot in the third quarter to help the Dragons build on their three-point halftime lead. The junior guard knocked down 3-pointers on three consecutive trips up the floor, with freshman Ty Saragas collecting assists on each, to give Harlan a 33-25 cushion with 5:43 left in the period. Saragas also found senior Tony Spurlock for a trey in the quarter, part of a 5-0 run that pushed the Dragons’ advantage to 42-32 heading into the final period.

The lead held through nearly two minutes of the fourth quarter before Coeburn’s Barry Meade hit a pair of free throws at the 6:03 mark, igniting an 8-0 run that included a pair of baskets by center Phillip Riner and two free throws by Andrew Pate.

Ely answered by penetrating for a runner with 3:31 to play. The rest of the period, however, belonged to Coeburn guard Holden Burke, who hit a free throw and scored two straight baskets to give the Blue Knights a 45-44 lead with 2:21 remaining.

Ely drove to the basket and drew a foul, knocking down the ensuing free throws to put Harlan ahead by one with just over a minute remaining. Burke answered again with another driving layup.

The Dragons called timeout with 15.7 seconds left to set up their final play, but the Blue Knights smothered Ely. A Harlan pass into the lane was stolen by Pate in the closing seconds to seal the win for Coeburn.

“They knew what we were going to try to do. We just didn’t do a good job of doing what we were told to do,” Lester said. “We wanted to spread it out and let Ely penetrate, and we just didn’t do a good job of reading the defense.”

Ely poured in a game-high 20 points to lead the Dragons.

“He played big for us,” Lester said. “He hit some big 3’s for us in the third quarter that got us a little bit of a lead.”

Pate and Burke led Coeburn with 13 points each, and Riner added 11. Pate also grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds.

The Blue Knights used a 7-0 run in the first quarter to take a 14-5 lead, but Harlan closed the period with six straight points to pull within three. Sophomore Tyler Grubbs scored six points in the quarter for the Dragons.

Harlan continued the onslaught in the second quarter, reeling off 10 straight points. Senior Stephen Couch drove for two baskets, including one that gave the Dragons their first lead of the game at the 6:52 mark, and Ely drained his first 3-pointer of the game. Pate hit a 3 to end the Blue Knights’ drought, and Burke added a basket to pull Coeburn within two. The Knights cut their deficit to one on a Riner basket with 2:04 left, but Harlan answered with another basket by Ely to take a 27-24 lead into the locker room.

The Dragons made just one of six free throws in the first half and attempted only two after the break, making both.

“We didn’t shoot them well the first half. I thought we did a great job of attacking the basket in the second half – we just didn’t get to the free throw line,” Lester said.

Harlan will face the Eagles this evening at 5:30. Coeburn will take on host Appalachia for the tournament championship at 8:30, following the girls championship game.

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HARLAN (3-6)

Ty Saragas 2-7 0-2 4, Philip Ely 7-15 2-3 20, Chris Begley 1-8 0-0 2, Brandon Taylor 1-2 2-6 4, Tyler Grubbs 3-4 0-0 6, Zach Chitwood 1-2 1-2 3, Tony Spurlock 1-3 0-0 3, Stephen Couch 2-7 0-0 4. Total: 18-48 5-13 46.

COEBURN, VA. (4-3)

Holden Burke 6-14 1-2 13, Brett Hall 0-5 0-0 0, Brad Moore 3-5 2-2 8, Andrew Pate 4-14 3-5 13, Phillip Riner 5-11 1-1 11, Tyler Odle 0-0 0-0 0, Ryan Porter 0-1 0-0 0, Barry Meade 0-1 2-3 2, Donald Gross 0-0 0-0 0, Brody Robinson 0-0 0-0 0. Total: 18-51 9-13 47.

Harlan 11 13 18 4 — 46

Coeburn 14 7 11 15 — 47

3-point goals: Harlan 5-17 (Ely 4-7, Spurlock 1-2, Begley 0-2, Couch 0-2, Saragas 0-4), Coeburn 2-11 (Pate 2-5, Hall 0-1, Riner 0-2, Burke 0-3). Rebounds: Harlan 32 (Taylor 10), Coeburn 35 (Pate 13). Assists: Harlan 7 (Saragas 5), Coeburn 7 (Moore, Pate 2). Turnovers: Harlan 20, Coeburn 16. Fouled out: Harlan (Grubbs), Coeburn (Riner).