Another great 8th Region game between Grant County and South Oldham!

 

South Oldham has won six in a row against their rivals from Dry Ridge, but the last three have been fan delights, as the margins of victory have been 4, 5, and 4.

 

Last night's game was played with a post-season intensity from both teams from the opening tip. The largest lead of the game was at 29-20 (South Oldham), but both teams led at one time or another, and never did the other team allow the lead to last long.

 

South came out of the gate slow at both ends of the court, shooting just 38.9% in the first quarter and very flat-footed on the defensive end. Meanwhile, Grant was attacking the rim repeatedly, and finished the quarter 8 of 16 shooting for 50%. South coach Steve Simpson, unhappy with his team's defensive effort, benched all five starters shortly into the game, and the five subs he inserted - Nick Cranfill, Caiden Brown, Creighton Thieneman, Clay Brice, and Nathan Beard - got the Dragons back into the game with their energy on the defensive end and their timely shooting. Thieneman and Beard both hit threes to pull South back into the contest, and the Dragons trailed by 2 when the starters returned. A small flurry at the end of the quarter ended with South leading, 19-16, after one. Sophomore center Ben Michel had an old-fashioned three point play, and had two other free throws and senior Seth Johnson hit three of four shots.

 

South, with a new head of steam, pushed their advantage out to 29-20 early in the second on a couple of threes from Michel and Jason King, and four points from Luke Morrison, who Grant had held scoreless in the first on 0 of 6 shooting. That would be the largest lead of the game; this time it was the Braves crawling back into contention, as Grant County got a tremendous quarter from Blake Robinson, who hit all three of his shots, including a pair of threes.

 

The lead was still 8 at 32-24 after a three from Jason King of South, but Grant scored 8 of the final 10 points of the half to cut the deficit to 34-32 at the break.

 

Robinson led the Braves at halftime with 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting. For South, 6'6" sophomore center Ben Michel also had 10 points.

 

To get an idea of how back-and-forth this game was, you merely have to look at the scoring by quarter:

 

South 19 15 17 21 - 72

Grant 16 16 15 21 - 68

 

Midway through the third, South had again extended the lead a bit and threatened to take control at 42-34 after two Luke Morrison free throws. Grant, who struggled with turnovers all night, had turned the ball over on four of their first five possessions of the period. But a bucket underneath by Robinson keyed another Brave rally, buoyed by another pair of Robinson threes.

 

Over the first three periods, Robinson was 7 for 7 shooting for 18 points, including 4 of 4 beyond the arc. He finished the game 9 of 10 shooting for a game high 23 points. Very impressive performance.

 

With 2:44 to play in the third, Robinson came off a pick from Dawalt on the left baseline and hit a three from the corner to pull Grant to within one at 46-45, prompting a South timeout.

 

Grant would have four consecutive possessions to take the lead at that point. The first two ended in turnovers and the second two both ended with the Braves missing one shot and South getting the defensive rebound. South ended the two teams' scoring drought on a fast break layup by Jason King to to make it 48-45.

 

Ben Vickers would score in the paint to make it 48-47, and moments later, Grant would again have the ball with a chance to take the lead, but the Braves threw the ball away on an errant entry pass, and South got a wide-open look off the left wing - Jason King buried the three just before the end of the period to give South a little breathing room at 51-47 after three.

 

South kept pushing the lead out a little, each time only to see Grant bounce back. With under 30 seconds to play, it was just 68-65.

 

Seth Johnson hit one of 2 FTs for South to make it 69-65, and Grant hurried downcourt. But Vickers' shot in the lane was blocked by King, and a long outlet pass to Luke Morrison resulted in a layup and a foul.

 

Jack Epperson, who committed the foul, left the game after the play with a cut on the chin. Hopefully that was all it was; Epperson played a monster game, scoring 12 points and grabbing 8 boards.

 

Morrison's FT made it 72-65; Robinson hit a three with 3.7 seconds to account for the final score.

 

GREAT GAME! Well worth the price of admission. This was tournament level basketball in December.

 

Leading scorers:

South Oldham - all five starters finished in double figures. Seth Johnson 17, Luke Morrison 13, Jason King 11, Tim Stragand 11, Ben Michel 10 points / 10 rebounds.

 

Grant County - Blake Robinson 23, Ben Vickers 17, Jack Epperson 12, Luke Dawalt 10.

 

Grant ultimately undone in two key stats:

 

TURNOVERS: Grant 19, South 9

Free throws: South 16 of 18; Grant 4 of 8

 

Rebounds: South Oldham 35, Grant County 29

 

CM

Tim Stragand and Jason King both played huge roles for South in the game. King was all over....hit 4 of 8 shots, including 3 of 5 threes, for 11 points. He also had 5 rebounds. King - who is only 5'7" - also had the big block in the closing seconds on Vickers' shot that could have cut the South lead to two.

 

Stragand hit 3 of 6 shot, including 3 of 4 from beyond the arc - and 2 of 2 at the line to score 11 points.

 

With King and Stragand establishing themselves as legitimate outside threats, it should help South open up things more and more for Morrison and Johnson.

 

CM

Grant must be a good bit better than they have been for the past few years.

This was a great struggle between two of the region's better teams. Kudos to South for overcoming some adversity (poor shooting) with solid bench play and a "refuse to lose" mentality after getting on top. And - after a shaky first quarter - the Dragons largely won this one because they handled the ball far better than Grant, with only four (unofficial) turnovers in the final three periods.

 

The difference in turnovers allowed South to take 15 more shots than Grant, largely negating Grant's advantage in shooting percentage.

 

CM

I've seen Grant play twice now and have been impressed. They had a very nice win on the road at Woodford and played solid at South Oldham.

 

They have two nice bigs (Dawalt and Epperson) who can put on a show in warmups. They have two very good guards who can shoot it (Robinson and Guffey who is a freshman). And Vickers is a crafty point guard who is hard to guard. Hammonds another freshman and Scalf give them some good minutes off the bench.