Final.

 

South Oldham ends a four game losing streak at the hands of Shelby County with the 73-68 win. Coming into tonight's game, Shelby had won 14 of the last 15 games between the two schools.

 

The Rockets raced out to an 11 point lead to start the game, but South chipped away at the margin, finally closing to within 25-21 at the half, despite shooting just 24.2% in the first half. Cache Tomlinson of Shelby - averaging about 10 ppg - had the hot hand early. Although Shelby didn't come into the game known as a perimeter team, the Rockets' first three made field goals were threes, with Tomlinson hitting his first two. (For the game, Tomlinson finished with 7 threes and 25 points.)

 

The South bench was crucial in keeping the Rockets from pulling away early...Jacob Adams, Austin Bowling, and Zach Seitz came off the bench and keyed the second period rally. The Dragons had been reeling on the boards, but Seitz came off the bench to secure six second-period rebounds. He finished tied for the team lead with 9 boards as South ultimately battled Shelby to a tie on the glass - according to Pegasus' stats - at 31-all. (South Oldham's statistician had South winning the rebound battle by 1)

 

The Dragons shot lights out in the second half, hitting 19 of 33 for 57.6% in the second half. They also hit 10 of 14 at the line in the 2H for 71%, after hitting just 2 of 5 in the first half.

 

South center Chris Schumm, a 6'4" junior, who averages just 2.5 ppg and is typically more of a force in the passing / defensive games, hit four of four in the third, and 5 of 6 overall in the second half. After scoring one in the first half, he finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds. He also did a tremendous job defensively against a taller Shelby front line, featuring 6'6" Donovan Johnson, 6'6" Eric Standafer, and 6'4" Nigel Beach.

 

Shelby took a 47-46 lead into the final period, but couldn't hold it as South hit 10 of 15 in the final period while Shelby hit just 6 of 18 shots. Jacob Adams hit 3 of 4 in the period and finished 7 of 10 from the field with a team high 18 points for South Oldham - 10 above his average. But the Rockets hung around; Tomlinson almost singlehandedly willed the Rockets to stay in the game after they fell behind by 6, then trailed by 5, 65-60, late in the game. Tomlinson hit 3 of 5 beyond the arc in the final period to rally Shelby.

 

All 10 South players who played scored.

 

Shelby is fairly young team; the Rockets do not have a senior on the roster, and have a significant amount of talent. Their schedule has been brutal for a young team; had they played even an "average" schedule, they probably would have 11 or 12 wins by now. Shelby has already played Seneca, Trinity, Bullitt East, Eastern, Anderson County, GRC, Franklin County, and Woodford County.

 

South improves to 7-9; Shelby falls to 7-10.

 

The JV game was won by South, 54-42.

 

South Oldham 9 12 25 27 - 73

Shelby County 17 8 22 21 - 68

 

South - Adams 18, Kraemer 16, Schumm 12, Jackson 8, Jewitt 5, Fields 4, Bullock 3, Bowling 3, Seitz 2, Gordon 2

 

Shelby - Tomlinson 25, Payton 19, Johnson 15, Beckley 9

 

Donovan Johnson led Shelby on the boards by our count with 10.

 

Shooting percentages: overall South 27/66 40.9%, Shelby 24/63 38%

three point shooting: South 7/26 26.9%, Shelby 9/20 45%

Free throws: South 12/19 63.2%, Shelby 11/13 84.6%

Rebounds: South 31, Shelby 31

Turnovers: South 11, Shelby 14

Already have a post on this game.

sorry; I was typing mine when the other thread started.