North Oldham 61 Henry County 57 (8th Region Quarterfinals)

[ColonelMike]

Per the update thread.

[B-Ball-fan]

 

Henry County got a bit of an edge early, but North Oldham erased that by the Half leading by 5, and again by 5 at the end of 3. Henry County got within 1 in the 4th period when it was 51-50, and things stayed pretty close down the stretch until North Oldham pulled it out. 

North Oldham will move on to face Simon Kenton in the semi's.

[ColonelMike]

Henry actually took the lead at 51-50 with just under 4 minutes left in the game, but Ian Higdon put North back in front, 52-51, with a pair of free throws and the Mustangs never trailed again.

Baskets by Rico Carr-Cole and Ian Higdon pushed it to 56-51 with under two left.

With 1:46 left, Brandon Graves pulled Henry within two after nailing a three off the left wing.   Henry, normally not a strong three point shooting team, hit 7 of its first 11 shots from beyond the arc on the night (though they would miss two big ones late...).

The game all boiled down to the final 25.5 seconds.   North Oldham holding a 60-57 lead and Henry County with the ball.   The Wildcats got a wide-open look for Brandon Graves in the corner, but he missed long from the left corner on the potentially tying three.   Sam Royalty got the offensive board for the Cats and passed to Kevin Wix on the right wing, but his three was short, and rebounded by North Oldham's Rico Carr-Cole with 6 seconds to play.

Carr-Cole was fouled, and hit 1 of 2 free throws to account for the final 61-57 score.