BELFRY, Ky. — Belfry High School center Bol Kuir got on the boards early and often against Lawrence County, and that outstanding performance got him a place in the state record books as well.
The 7-foot-3 junior posted Kentucky’s second-best rebounding performance with 42 in Belfry’s 78-77, double-overtime victory Thursday night over Lawrence County. Louisville’s Courier Journal reported that Kuir’s total ranks behind Russ Milton’s 48 in a 1957 game and just ahead of King “Kelly” Coleman’s 41 in 1956.
The first-year basketball player from South Sudan also had 25 points and eight blocks in the contest. Kuir’s coach, Mark Thompson, told the newspaper that he initially wasn’t aware of the eye-popping rebounding total until an assistant informed him afterward.
“As soon as the game was over, one of my assistants looked at me and said, did you know that Bol had 42 rebounds?” Thompson told the Courier Journal on Friday. “I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me, right?’ He said, ‘No, 42 rebounds.’”
Kuir is averaging 14.8 points, a state-best 14.2 rebounds and 4.2 blocks per game for the Pike County school in eastern Kentucky. Last month he posted a triple-double of 16 points, 10 boards and 10 blocks, no easy feat considering he’s often double- or triple-teamed.
Not only that, Kuir has hit a 3-pointer and made a reverse dunk after driving from the corner.
Added Thompson, “The skill level that Bol has, that I see on a daily basis, it’s mind blowing to me.”
