Who:  Oldham County (12-10) vs. Simon Kenton (15-8)

When:  Friday 2/3/23, tipoff at 7:30 pm ET

Where:  Oldham County HS in Buckner, KY

Series since Simon Kenton joined the 8th Region in 2006:  Oldham County leads, 13-6.   The Colonels have won the last 8 meetings.   The two teams are 2-2 against each other in 8th Region tournament games.   The two schools met in the 2007 8th Region Title Game, with Oldham prevailing, 63-57.

Last Meeting:   Oldham won on 12/3/21, 65-47.

Video Broadcast coverage:  FREE, live hi-def video coverage starts at 7 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com

This has been a great rivalry since SK joined the 8th Region, with 13 of the 19 games between the two teams decided by 9 points or less.   

Trent Steiner has been at the helm at SK throughout - Steiner is the second-longest tenured coach in the 8th Region, after South Oldham's Steve Simpson - and credit him and the folks in Buckner for keeping this entertaining series going.   It's just about a 45-50 minute drive down I-71 from one school to the other, so the fans can enjoy this one - and they certainly have.

Steiner has SK playing strong defensive basketball, and he's got the human eraser - senior 7'3" center Gabe Dynes - to protect the back of a stingy half-court defense.    SK has some quality wins under it's belt, including victories over Ashland, Walton-Verona, and North Oldham.   The Pioneers are in a bit of a funk - they've lost three of their last four - but they look to start an end-of-season run with a quality win on the road at Oldham County on Friday.  With Oldham County, Campbell County, Mason County (23-2!), and Owen County among the final six opponents in the regular season, SK could rack up some quality W's to get some momentum heading into what looks like a brutally tough 32nd district tournament.

Josh Leslie, in his first year as head coach at Oldham County, has had to endure an up-and-down season.  After starting the year 3-6, OC has gone 9-4, but the results have been erratic at times.  Wins over quality teams like Elizabethtown, Woodford County, and McLean County have been mixed in with blowout losses to Grant County, Collins, and Evangel.   Still, this OC team generally makes it an exciting evening; the Colonels are one of the highest-scoring teams in the region, in large part due to 6'6" junior PG Max Green, who averages 25 ppg.   Green - who has been held under 20 points only 3 times this year, and who has never been held below 13 points - is very capable of exploding for 30+ points, and has the size to be a defensive matchup nightmare for opposing (and almost always shorter) guards.

It'll be strength on strength Friday - SK's grudging defense against Oldham's explosive offense .... but the game may be decided by the SK offense vs. the OC defense, which has been suspect this year.    Oldham will have to close fast on guards Travis Krohman and Isaac Gabbard, who both can light it up from the outside.   SK, on the other hand, has only scored 60+ in 7 of 23 games this year; if the pace of the game is more to Oldham's liking (the Colonels average 67.3 ppg and have scored over 60 points in 17 of 22 games this year), then it could be a long night for the Pioneers.

The matchup is one of contrasts.   Should be another great night for the fans.

Try to go see this one, folks - but if you can't, we'll be covering it live on www.pegasussportsky.com

 

I see SK winning this one by 15, just not sold on OC yet.

I probably should just give up making predictions about Oldham County.  Really hard to get a handle on them, very up and down (like a lot of teams in the 8th region, I guess).   A huge loss (32 points) to a sort-of rival in Collins may present a turning point in the season - depending on how the kids respond to it, they might bounce back and come out strong.  Or they could go the other way.  I have a feeling they might pull this out, playing at home.  

8 minutes ago, 4 Quarters said:

I see SK winning this one by 15, just not sold on OC yet.

I am not 100% sold on either team, both have questionable games played. 

3 minutes ago, Adrian Woj Burner said:

I am not 100% sold on either team, both have questionable games played. 

Agree, I just think SK is a little more predictable.

Collins forced Green into a ton of turnovers and got Amburgey in foul trouble early.  If Simon Kenton can do the same they should have a victory in Buckner Friday night. Not a lot of additional firepower for Oldham County.

Oldham isn’t good defensively but they are good at speeding up other teams in a weird way because they give up a lot of good looks. Some games that hurts them. This game I think it helps and OC gets the win. 

I'm going with the home team.

Pregame show starts at 7 pm ET on www.pegasussportsky.com if you can't make it to the game in person!

12-8 OC 

1st Qtr end

I feel like OC is dominating and Dynes just got 2nd foul