Friday 1/3/20

 

Dragons vs. Dragons

 

South Oldham just fell out of the rankings after their most recent game, a 67-62 loss to Bishop Brossart. Warren Central sits at #18 in this week's Bluegrasspreps top 20.

 

South Oldham Dragons are 9-4 as of this writing and averaging 75 ppg. South will play Holmes on Thursday before going up against Warren Central. South is coming off a 5 point loss to Bishop Brossart in the title game of the Henry County Invitational Tournament. Defending 8th Region player of the year Luke Morrison has really come alive of late; the senior is averaging 20.9 ppg, but he's averaging 24.4 ppg over the last five games, with two games over 30 points, including 31 against Brossart. During that five game stretch, Morrison has also hit 21 of 38 threes (55.3%) and 23 of 26 free throws (88.5%).

 

On the season Morrison is hitting 50.5% of his combined 2 and 3 point field goals.

 

As expected, South is bombing away from beyond the arc. After a slow start to the season, South is connecting with regularity now; the Dragons are making 39.9% of their threes and averaging 10.5 makes from beyond the arc per game. South has made at least 13 threes in three of their last four games, including 19 against Ryle.

 

The #18-ranked Warren Central Dragons are remarkably similar. Like South, this is a fast-paced team that likes to shoot the three, and the southern KY Dragons have almost mirror-image stats from beyond the arc:

 

Three point shooting:

South Oldham 136 / 341 39.9% average 10.5 makes / 26.2 attempts per game

Warren Central 78 / 189 41.3% average 9.8 maes / 23.6 attempts per game

 

D'Andre Boyd (13.5 ppg), Kobe Brents (13.7 ppg), and Tayton Smith (12.2 ppg) lead WC in scoring; Smith is the premier outside threat. Smith has made 26 of 61 threes on the year, but only 9 two-point field goals.

 

Overall, WC isn't quite shooting as well as South Oldham, but the only glaring difference is at the free throw line:

 

Overall FG%: South Oldham 48.6% Warren Central 45.2%

Free throw%: South Oldham 73.4% Warren Central 55.5%

 

For WC, only Boyd has attempted over 6 FTs and made over 57%. Boyd, however, is extremely good at the line, hitting 75% of his free throws. All five South starters are hitting over 70% at the line.

 

Rebounds could be big for this game; WC has shown a remarkable tenacity on the glass. Though nobody averages 6 or more rebounds a game, five WC Dragons are grabbing an average of 4 boards a game, and WC as a team is getting 32+ boards a contest, about 6 more than South averages.

 

Should be a fascinating game between two teams who should see a lot of themselves in each other. The game will tip at 8:15 pm ET; live video coverage of the game begins with a pregame show at 7:30 pm ET on The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN

 

CM

Stats tidbit of the day....

 

South Oldham averaged just over 70 ppg during the Dragons' first 7 games....

 

South has averaged 79.5 ppg during the last six games, including scoring over 90 points twice in their last four....

 

CM

Stats tidbit of the day....

 

South Oldham averaged just over 70 ppg during the Dragons' first 7 games....

 

South has averaged 79.5 ppg during the last six games, including scoring over 90 points twice in their last four....

 

CM

 

To build on that - Warren Central hasn't allowed more than 59 points in a single game this year. South Oldham's lowest score of the year was 59, and they only did that once. Strength on strength.

I'll go on record and take SO over WC in a close one.

Going to be a fun one, that's for sure. We go on air a little later than usual - 7:30 pm ET - and will have a slightly longer pregame show.

 

CM

I will endeavor to send some updates during the broadcast... Both teams won last night, with South easily handling Holmes, 82-65 (lead was 32 heading into the final quarter), and Warren Central topping Bullitt East, 64-50.

 

CM

5:28 left in the game before the South Oldham vs. Warren Central game....Bowling Green leads Bullitt East 55-36....approximate tip time - about 8:30

end of first quarter

 

South Oldham 19

Warren Central 18

HALF

 

South Oldham 30

Warren Central 29

South leading scorers:

Seth Johnson 9 points

Tim Stragand 8

 

WC leading scorer:

DeAndre Boyd 12

correction Boyd with 8 points

three by Brents

5:59 left in 3Q

timeout South

 

Warren Central 36 South Oldham 32

Biggest lead of game for WC

55.3 seconds left

 

South Oldham 67

Warren Central 64

Seth Johnson two FTs

 

South 69-64

16 seconds left

 

South Oldham 71

Warren Central 68

 

South ball going full-court