Who: #2 seed North Oldham (16-13) vs. #3 seed South Oldham (21-8)

 

When: Wednesday, approximately 7:30 pm ET

 

Where: Trimble County HS, Bedford, KY

 

Broadcast: The Pegasus Sports Network - PSN live video (also archived)

 

Regular season matchup: North 71 South 65 on 1/31/2020 at NOHS

 

Who to watch:

 

South Oldham: Last year's 8th region player of the year and this year's runner-up POY Luke Morrison averages 20.5 ppg and has hit 75 threes on the season at 43.9%. Seth Johnson is averaging 18.9 ppg / 6.8 rebounds. Both made the All Region team.

 

North Oldham: All-Region Tyler Higdon leads the Mustangs in scoring and rebounding at 14.2 ppg / 8.4 rebounds. Dallas Roberts averages 13.3 ppg and "Rico" Carr-Cole 12.5. Carr-Cole is perhaps the hottest player in the 8th Region in the last month.

 

South Oldham is one of the state's premier three-point shooting teams; the Dragons have made a region-best 312 threes at 41.5%. Six players have made 20 or more threes, and even the center, 6'6" sophomore Ben Michel, has made 16.

 

North Oldham is one of the top-shooting teams overall in the region, hitting 50.5% from the floor. While North is a solid three-point shooting team, the Mustangs excel at getting the ball down low to the Higdon brothers, senior Tyler and freshman Ian.

 

South is one of the top scoring teams in the state, averaging over 77 points per game.

 

Both teams are ranked in the top 5 of the Region; only one will advance to the region tournament.

 

The broadcast coverage begins with coverage of the girls' game, with the boys' game following at about 7:30 pm.

 

CM

Looks like both teams should be healthy and at 100% for tonight's matchup. That's good....the gym is going to be packed for this one....this should be a "dandy!"

 

CM

Looks like both teams should be healthy and at 100% for tonight's matchup. That's good....the gym is going to be packed for this one....this should be a "dandy!"

 

CM

 

Is Justin Powell back for North Oldham?

I imagine Trimble’s gym might become a fire hazard tonight, and I’m not talking about Luke Morrison’s 3pt percentage. Lol.

Is Justin Powell back for North Oldham?

 

No, Powell had season ending surgery.

Nightmare for coaches....critical keys abound....

 

- How well will North close out on South's perimeter shooters? Can they move them off the line? Will that matter?

- Who wins the rebounding battle?

- Can Tyler Higdon stay out of foul trouble for North?

- Who guards Carr-Cole (NO) for South? He had 25 in the last meeting.

- If South goes man-to-man, can Ben Michel of South keep Tyler Higdon from getting to the rim?

- How many defenses will Steve Simpson use tonight? Not meant as a joke - Simpson's the master of mixing defenses up throughout a game. How will North respond?

- If it comes down to free throws, can North match South? SO had an uncharacteristically pedestrian shooting percentage at the line in the former meeting - North can't expect that to happen again.

- Facing last year's 8th Region player of the year (and this year's Runner-up), Luke Morrison, how will North defend? Knowing Seth Johnson is every bit as dangerous with the ball in his hands....how will North choose to defend?

- If it comes down to a final shot, who will be the go-to for these teams? For South, Luke Morrison or Seth Johnson? Someone else - unexpected? For North - Dallas Roberts? A big moment perhaps for the freshman?

- How many points will it take to win? I'm thinking there will be more points put up than in the regular season matchup, when North won with 71 points. I think the winner needs to reach 75 or more this time. Or - will the emotion of the moment keep the scoring down a bit? It is, after all, an elimination game between two natural rivals.

- on the bench, the veteran (Steve Simpson, 20th season at South, 3 region titles in the last 7 seasons) vs. one of the region's newest coaches (David Levitch, 2nd season at North Oldham HS)

HALF North Oldham 34 South Oldham 33

end of 3

 

North 56

South 50

fourth quarter

 

4:54 to play

 

North timeout

 

North 62

South 59

 

SO with the ball

Tyler Higdon, Thomas Ashton - 4 fouls for NO

 

Tim Stragand and Jason King - 4 fouls for SO

Tyler Higdon has fouled out .....Jason King of South just fouled out with 2 minutes to play.

 

SO 69

NO 65

 

N

1:02 4Q

 

73-70 south

26.4 left

 

South 77-74

 

North ball

Carr Cole rimmed out a 3 but SO tips out of bounds.

 

SO 77-74 with 4.1 to play. North ball out of bounds in front court.

FINAL South 77 North 74