Final per the scoreboard. 

Ragged game by two rivals playing their first game of the season.

Dragons got a huge first quarter from 6'6" senior forward Ben Michel (12 points in the first), and hit some big threes in the second, at one point pushing out to an 8 point lead.  Oldham whittled it to 33-29 at the half, and went into the locker room buoyed by a big three just before the buzzer by Tyler Slone.

The Colonels got some early takeaways in the third, and by mid-quarter had taken over the lead.   They outscored South, 18-7, in the frame and headed to the final 8 minutes up, 47-40.

Oldham eventually stretched the margin to as much as 12, and settled for the final 8 point margin.

Neither team was particularly sharp, but this was to be expected given this was the first game for both.  

Thought Tyler Slone played a solid all-around game for four quarters for Oldham, finishing (unofficially) with 17 points and 5 boards.

I thought Oldham's defensive intensity really amped up in the second half, when they outscored the Dragons, 30-18.   South struggled to get open looks from beyond the arc as Oldham repeatedly ran them off the line, and Oldham did a much better job (than in the first half) at defending the skip passes that South utilized with some effectiveness in the first half.

Still, I also thought that South served notice that - despite the graduation of 10 seniors, including four starters - they are not considering this a "rebuilding" year.  The Dragons have shooters, a budding star in Michel, and appear to have some bench players who can contribute.   In short, it looks like it may be another year in which Steve Simpson is skipping the predicted "rebuilding" year and going straight to "reloading".

Oldham still looks like the team to beat in the region.   With the 29th District now a three-team district, the Colonels could qualify for the 8th Region tournament by beating North Oldham on the road, thereby claiming the 29th district first-round "bye" and earning a trip to the district finals - and therefore, a guaranteed berth in the region tournament.

CM

I’m too old for moral victories.  Still, as a South fan, this game was a good deal closer than I expected, and there is much to be enthused about.  For a practically brand new team, players not used to playing together and making do with very limited cumulative practice  time due to Covid, I thought South looked really sharp on the offensive end in the first half.  Spacing was good, moved the ball around really well.  Not so much in the second half.  I heard a little bit of grumbling about ‘reverting to selfishness’ - to me, it was easily explained as OC really cranking up defensive intensity, putting South back on its heels, and an inexperienced team being unable to deal with that pressure.  OC is experienced, has really good length, and is always among the best defensive squads in the 8th region.  So we won’t be facing that kind of pressure often, my guess. For a loss, there are reasons to be encouraged.....

1 minute ago, Mojocat said:

I’m too old for moral victories.  Still, as a South fan, this game was a good deal closer than I expected, and there is much to be enthused about.  For a practically brand new team, players not used to playing together and making do with very limited cumulative practice  time due to Covid, I thought South looked really sharp on the offensive end in the first half.  Spacing was good, moved the ball around really well.  Not so much in the second half.  I heard a little bit of grumbling about ‘reverting to selfishness’ - to me, it was easily explained as OC really cranking up defensive intensity, putting South back on its heels, and an inexperienced team being unable to deal with that pressure.  OC is experienced, has really good length, and is always among the best defensive squads in the 8th region.  So we won’t be facing that kind of pressure often, my guess. For a loss, there are reasons to be encouraged.....

I'm not a big moral victory guy, either, but I thought both coaches came away with something they needed Saturday.

Oldham's Zerhusen got a quick reality dose he can administer to his team to help ensure they stay focused and don't read their press clippings.....South's Simpson got the opportunity to reinforce his team's confidence that they will be competitive in the region as so many Dragon teams have been over Steve Simpson's tenure - and not simply "rebuilding".   That's an attitude every coach wants.

It was a very competitive game... but I certainly missed the usual big crowd....instead of a gym that was full during the JV game, it was so quiet with only 150 people in a 2800 seat gymnasium...    

Sunday morning thoughts....(now that I've had a night of sleep....?)

- For the first game out of the blocks for both teams, the fans were treated to a wildly competitive contest.   Sloppy, yes, but very entertaining.    South led by as much as 8; Oldham by as much as 12, but neither could ever quite put the other away with a final, decisive knockout punch.   The game was in doubt until the final minute.

- It was great to get back in the gym, COVID restrictions or no.

- A stat that's strange and almost hard to believe.   Oldham has now won - dating back to the District 29 championship game in 2014 - 11 of the last 14 games between these two schools.   For a rivalry game, that's amazing, particularly one between the two winningest programs in the 8th region over the last five seasons, coached by tremendous coaches, and featuring some top players.

- For South:   Ben Michel gave us a glimpse that he may be everything I predicted he might be in the preseason.    The 6'6" junior showed off his versatility while starting at the "3" spot, and even Oldham - arguably the "longest" team in the 8th - had matchup difficulties.   When he was outside, he frequently got good looks from three (he shot threes well last year), and he also got several impressive drives to the basket, where he used his long legs and long arms to great effect.   Showed off a masterful finger roll.   12 dominating points in the first quarter was impressive; South has to be able to get consistent complementary scorers, though, to keep him from being taken out of the game later.    Oldham really focused on him over the final three frames.   Michel finished with 17 points (5 of 6 twos, 2 of 2 threes, 1 of 2 at the line).

- For Oldham:   Tyler Slone was the best player on the court for either team, for four quarters.   He didn't have the overwhelmingly dominant quarter like Michel did for South in the first, but for four quarters, he shot consistently well, from both inside and outside.   Two threes.    Strong on the glass.   Showed patience in his shot; nothing hurried.    I had him (unofficially) for a team-high 17 points, tying Michel for game honors, and five rebounds.

- I was missing two points from my OC stats.... first game for me, too.

- For South - Point guard Cole Davis was really in the spotlight, and for the most part, I thought he handled it well in his first start in the PG role for the Dragons, facing what could be the most challenging pressure defense he will see this year in the 8th.  South really had only a very few turnovers in the backcourt working against the Oldham pressure, and Davis was a big part of that.   Davis scored 11 points, and hit 3 of 4 beyond the arc and 4 of 6 overall.

- Dragons didn't turn the ball over much in the backcourt, but turnovers in the frontcourt bedeviled Simpson's squad all night.   Not sure the final, official tally.

- For Oldham - The Colonels really took over control of the game in the second half when they asserted their dominance on the backboards, particularly the offensive glass.   Unofficially, I had Oldham winning the rebounding battle, 26-18, though it seemed like a bigger margin in that second half when OC's Slone, Wagner, and Burgess corralled everything in sight.   We'll see what the official stats show, but the second half rebounding differential was significant as Oldham went from a four point deficit at the half to a 7 point advantage after three.

- For South - Impressive shooting, particularly for game 1.  (and especially for game 1 this year!).    South hit 20 of 33 for 60.6% from the floor - including 10 of 17 (58.8%!) beyond the arc.    The Dragons were especially strong from the outside in the first half, when they built a 33-29 lead.   

- Oldham didn't shoot - percentage-wise - as well as South, but sometimes that's not the most important number.   Sometimes it's all about attempts.   Oldham took 16 more shots than South did (49 vs. 33).

- Sometimes when you shoot over half of your shots from beyond the arc, you just don't collect as many fouls and get free throw opportunities.   Definitely the case last night, as South shot only four free throws and made only 1.   Meanwhile, Oldham - who repeatedly pounded the ball inside to their bigs - went to the line 21 times and hit 14 free throws, a +13 margin for the Colonels.

- Both teams went deep on their benches; South played ten players and nine scored.   Oldham played nine players and seven scored.

- South will be a good three point shooting team (again) this year.    After hitting 349 threes last year (the third most made threes in state history, behind two other marks also created by previous Dragon squads), South made 10 last night.  Impressively, 5 makes were by the starters, and five makes were by the subs.   Andrew Nunley came off the bench to hit 3 of 4 threes for Steve Simpson.

- Many thanks to the nice South Oldham fan who texted us during the broadcast and corrected my pronunciation of Kiya ("Kee-yah") Ledford's first name.    I do appreciate it!

- Oldham - We knew Xander Wagner-Rose was athletic, but he really took it to a new level last night.   Rose seemed to constantly be above everyone else, soaring for rebounds, grabbing offensive boards and putting them back in the basket before coming down, rising above the crowd to grab lobs off out of bounds plays, and running the court like a guard.   He finished (unofficially) with 12 points on 6 of 9 shooting and led OC with six boards.

- Why I love this rivalry.   When Oldham and South Oldham play, it's a war.  Plain and simple.    Records, expectations, predictions by the experts - none mean anything it seems.   For 32 minutes, it's all 100 mph pace and serious effort.   No loose ball goes out of bounds without four bodies flying after it.    Floor burns are collected "en masse".   Bruises are distributed under the basket liberally.   The kids play like it's the region title game and the season ends for the loser.   BUT...the two teams (each year) seem to genuinely like and respect each other.   You don't see the chippiness on display in the final seconds of these (often) very close finishes, with cheap shots, verbal taunting, etc.    Last night, inside the final minute, South fouled an Oldham player hard, knocking him back on his rear end.    Two Dragon players were quick to go over and give him a hand to get back up.    I see this display of sportsmanship pretty much every year in this game.  It's a proud display for the community.

- What I really missed last night.    The sense of community from a packed gym.   The tiny crowd, limited to just 150 due to COVID regulations, seemed detached from the game.    When I grew up, it was a single-county high school, and everyone was a fan of the local school.   The gym was always filled during the JV game, and the sense of community was very real.   Oldham County has three schools, but I always see a glimpse of that same "community identity" I grew up with at this game.  The crowd is (in non-COVID years) always capacity+, meaning that there would have been 2,800+ people in the gym last night.    And everyone always would go out of their way to swing by the Pegasus table to say high - fans of both Oldham and South Oldham.    Parents of the players, kids, former players I have coached, old fans (whose kids have long since graduated), former stars from Oldham and South Oldham teams past, local government and school officials - all paraded by and said "hi".    The strong sense of community that you felt was palpable and exhilarating.  You always left the gym feeling good.    Really missed that last night with the limited crowd and social distancing in effect.    (P.S. - many, many thanks to the fans who still did come over to the PSN table and take a moment to say "high"....)  ?

Finally....game on!

Good post, ColonelMike.  Agree with all of that - it’s a really good, and enjoyable, rivalry (well, aside from that pesky 11 of 14 thing).  Honestly, it doesn’t have the lopsided feel of one of those rivalries that’s become so one-sided that it’s not really a rivalry any longer.  I’d have to go back and look at the scores, but it seems the games are almost always close and competitive......

14 minutes ago, Mojocat said:

Good post, ColonelMike.  Agree with all of that - it’s a really good, and enjoyable, rivalry (well, aside from that pesky 11 of 14 thing).  Honestly, it doesn’t have the lopsided feel of one of those rivalries that’s become so one-sided that it’s not really a rivalry any longer.  I’d have to go back and look at the scores, but it seems the games are almost always close and competitive......

I think the scores are the reason why.   These two know how to play each other; they know what each other likes to do and can anticipate a lot.   The kids have grown up together in youth leagues and sometimes middle school (East Oldham Middle School actually feeds both OCHS and SOHS).

A ten point margin in a game in this series would be a huge win.

OK, COVID has a lot of folks staying home from the games....but where are the OC and SO fans on bluegrasspreps?   We've always had some nice conversations following this game.   I know we had a very large following during the broadcast.    

For those of you who watched the broadcast, what did you think of some of the new graphics that we've added?  Improve the experience?   

The sound of crickets is deafening....
LOL