If you're a North Oldham fan, this was an amazing game.

If you're a Trimble County fan, it was just one of those nights.

 

The Trimble County Raiders had the misfortune of playing a team where the matchups didn't really favor them to begin with on a night when a "perfect storm" came together for North. On a night in which the Mustangs sat their stars for nearly half the game, when 16 Mustangs played and 13 scored, when the Mustangs hit 63.3% of their shots (and the JV players on the floor in the fourth period hit 75%) - it seemed as if absolutely nothing could go wrong for North.

 

The game was honestly over very quickly. North led, 7-0, just 35 seconds into the game, and the Mustangs were up 17-1 when Justin Webb got Trimble's first basket of the night. DAvid Levitch hit all four of his first period shots (2 of 2 from beyond the arc) and 6'7" sophomore center Devon Rowan hit both of his shots to lead the way offensively, and Alex Foley (7 of his 12 points came in the first) simply was a terror on the front of the North press. It was 27-6 after one period, and North coach Danny Edelen was already subbing deep on his bench. North's top scorers and rebounders (Alex Foley 20 ppg, Devon Rowan 17 ppg 12 rebounds) were both on the bench very early in the second, and their re-appearance in the opening moments of the second half was very brief.

 

At the half, North led, 47-16, and they extended the lead each period. The five North starters began the second half, but all hit the bench after a couple of minutes of play. David Levitch, the talented freshman who started, did play for a minute or two in the fourth period, but also played only about half the game.

 

The North subs accounted for just over half of North's total points (46 of 91).

 

The North press forced 8 (unofficial) Trimble turnovers in the first period; North continued to press in the second, but had called it off by the second half... still, turnovers were a key stat, as Trimble had (unofficially) 24 for the game, compared to 14 for North. North also won the battle of the boards, despite the fact that North is a very short team when Rowan is on the bench, and Rowan only accounted for four rebounds on the night.

 

I was impressed by the gutty play of Trimble. This would have been an easy game to "pack it in" and take your lumps. But Trimble kept scrapping, clawing, and hustling. There was absolutely no letup on their part. Justin Webb played almost the entire game - I don't remember him coming out - and he led Trimble with 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the floor and 4 of 9 from the line. The biggest problem for the Raiders was the fact they could only get the ball into his hands rarely in good scoring position. I thought Dylan Staples (8 points) and Skiler Alexander (6 points) both gave Trimble a lift off the bench with their active play.

 

North improves to 9-13 overall and Trimble falls to 4-17. North claims the #2 seed in the district and Trimble gets the #4 seed. Standings:

 

South Oldham 3-0

North Oldham 2-1

Oldham County 1-2

Trimble County 0-3

 

North Oldham 27 20 21 23 - 91

Trimble County 6 10 14 9 - 39

 

Scoring: North: Levitch 18, Heady 14, Foley 12, Horn 8, Yates 7, Rowan 6, Steinfeld 5, Harley 4, Lagrange 4, Clausen 4, Clark 4, Gee 3, Zinno 2

Trimble: Webb 14, Staples 8, Alexander 6, Haney 4, Ward 3, Barnes 2, Renfro 2

 

FG%: North 38 / 60 63.3% Trimble 13 / 42 30.9%

 

Threes: North 10 / 17 58.8% (Levitch 4 / 6, Heady 2 / 3, Foley 1/2, Steinfeld 1 / 2, Clausen 1 / 2, Yates 1 / 1, Shams 0 / 1) Trimble 1 / 8 12.5% (Ward 1 / 4, Staples 0/2, Turner 0/2)

 

FT%: North 5/11 45.5%; Trimble 12/20 60%

A bright note for Trimble County is that they raised over $2600 for their "Nothin' but a Cure" cancer research fundraiser.

A bright note for Trimble County is that they raised over $2600 for their "Nothin' but a Cure" cancer research fundraiser.

 

Very impressive. I understood Bedford Elementary alone accounted for $1,000. Very emotional halftime ceremony during the game to honor cancer survivors as well as cancer victims. Lots of pink - on the sidelines (coaches), on the floor (all the players for both teams in the girls' game wore pink warm-up t-shirts, and some of the TC girls wore pink socks during the game), and in the stands.

 

It was neat to see the HS kids so involved in this kind of effort.

 

And it was a good turnout on a night when the weather didn't cooperate. The band was there - all a good HS basketball atmosphere in one of the historic 8th region gyms (I'm partial to the old gyms).