58-54 North with 1:16 to go. Oldham County has the ball, takes a timeout.

60-59 North with 29 seconds left. Oldham still needs 2 fouls to force the bonus.

16.5 to go, same score with Fisher at the line for the 1 and 1

Tied game, Green with a layup to tie it, and a questionable charge called on the other end. 2.6 to play with Oldham County ball. Timeout

Tipped ball, blocked shot on North’s 3 pt attempt at the buzzer. Going to OT

North’s forward Ian Higdon has 4 fouls going into OT

65-61 North with Higdon at the line to convert the and-1. 2:39 to go

72-61 North 46 secs to go.

5 hours ago, Mojocat said:

Regarding the Max/Dallas debate, I'm the contrarian I guess.  I'll take Roberts, certainly at the high school level.  At 6'1 he may not have a D-1 future, and at 6'6, Max might.  But I'll give North the nod at the 1.    And I don't mean that Roberts will necessarily outscore Green, in fact I'd be shocked if that happens. I mean he'll do more to put his team in position to win the game.

Point guard:  Dallas Roberts - Max Green:  advantage North Oldham

Two guard:  Jack Fisher - Cam Roush:  advantage North Oldham

Wing:  Grant Neal - Abram Stinebruner:  advantage OC

Four:  Ian Higdon - Luke Amburgey:  advantage North Oldham

Big:  Luke Anderson - Henry Marcum:  advantage North Oldham

And it's certainly possible that Neal outplays Stinebruner in a given game (although to be fair some of the other matchups are close enough that they could likewise, in a given game, swing to OC's favor).

 There is a chance, being a rivalry game, that this is closer than expected.  I think there's a better chance it gets out of hand. OC is easier to game plan for - they only have 3 guys that can score with much consistency.  I'll go with the clearly stronger team playing at home.

North Oldham - 78

Oldham County - 58

 

 

 

This is why you should never analyze and predict with your heart….

57 minutes ago, Hoopstars said:

This is why you should never analyze and predict with your heart….

Well, that’s sound advice - but I didn’t do anything with my heart.  That was just a big old miss.  We know plenty of kids and parents at both schools. I know both head coaches personally.  I didn’t think North would win big because I wanted them to win or wanted OC to lose.  I have thought this North team is the best team I’ve seen in the 8th Region in several years, and this is not a vintage OC team (losing to 0-10 Doss affirmed that).  Plus I just thought this was a bad matchup for OC.  Now, the team I saw tonight is not one anyone would call “the best 8th region team in several years.”  Contra, say, the Lyon County game.  Does Scales make that much difference?  Did they just have a bad night?  Just a rivalry thing?  Don’t know.  But it wasn’t the same team….

 

31 minutes ago, Mojocat said:

Well, that’s sound advice - but I didn’t do anything with my heart.  That was just a big old miss.  We know plenty of kids and parents at both schools. I know both head coaches personally.  I didn’t think North would win big because I wanted them to win or wanted OC to lose.  I have thought this North team is the best team I’ve seen in the 8th Region in several years, and this is not a vintage OC team (losing to 0-10 Doss affirmed that).  Plus I just thought this was a bad matchup for OC.  Now, the team I saw tonight is not one anyone would call “the best 8th region team in several years.”  Contra, say, the Lyon County game.  Does Scales make that much difference?  Did they just have a bad night?  Just a rivalry thing?  Don’t know.  But it wasn’t the same team….

 

I think the matter of it being a "rivalry game" makes a huge impact on this. Personally, I have played in many of these big rivalry games on both sides, where we were a lot better than a team, and when we were 20 points worse than the team. Almost all of them were single digit games, and these types of games are where you will see a majority of upsets in high school basketball. Some players will get nervous and struggle from the better team, and others from the not so good team will shine in the moment and play out of their level. This is why when tournament time comes around, you see a lot more closer games than you normally do when the two teams meet in the regular season. The 29th however, every matchup between any of the teams (regular season or post season) feels like a tournament game, lose or go home. This is great preparation, and I think is a big reason as to why you see many of these 3 teams shine on the big stage.