North Oldham Captures 29th District in Blowout Over Oldham Co.

BbyrdwellKSR

north-oldham-captures-29th-district-blowout-oldham-county — Photo by Kentucky Sports Radio

Before Friday, North Oldham’s last district title came when David Levitch was in seventh grade. A few years later, Levitch was leading the Mustangs on the court but could never capture the district title. The Mustangs (former) all-time leading scorer then played for the University of Louisville for four years.

But, life tends to be poetic, as Levitch coached the 3rd-ranked North Oldham Mustangs to a near-perfect win over the Oldham County Colonels for the 29th district championship on Friday night. This win marked the Mustangs’ second over Oldham County this season.

The Mustangs captured the 29th District title with a 71-50 dismantling of the Colonels, a pure coaching clinic. Speaking of poetic, the Mustangs were led by Dallas Roberts, a senior guard that broke Levitch’s North Oldham scoring record in January. Roberts scored 15 points against Oldham County while dishing plenty of assists and controlling the game. Ian Higdon and Jack Fisher flanked the all-time leading scorer as both added 15 points.

After the game, Roberts told KSR, “My guys get me open. They set good screens and pass me the ball when I’m open. I mean them having faith in me, and being able to make those shots, and having confidence in me. It’s all credit to my teammates and coaches.”

Your 29th District Champion North Oldham Mustangs @nohs_basketball pic.twitter.com/u02iMM4edU
— Brady Byrdwell (@BByrdwellKSR) February 25, 2023

Mustangs gallop through first half

The atmosphere inside North Oldham’s arena before tipoff was simply electric.

Both student sections were rowdy and roaring in hopes of a victory. High tension breeds fast basketball, and that’s precisely what happened. The Mustangs came out with something to prove. North Oldham’s Ian Higdon and Luke Anderson crashed the boards through the first half, as Jack Fischer and Grant Neal added threes en route to an early 18-9 lead. Six of Oldham County’s nine first-quarter points came from junior Max Green, a sign of things to come.

33-11 Mustangs, they are taking it to OC, watch out @teeroyhowell it may be time to change the rankings😉
— Brady Byrdwell (@BByrdwellKSR) February 25, 2023

As the buzzer sounded to commence the second quarter, it was almost like the Kentucky Derby gates flew open. The Mustangs charged out with an 11-0 run, led by Roberts and Higdon. Then, Ryan Howard’s three capped off an astonishing 20-5 run for North Oldham throughout the quarter. At the half, the Mustangs commanded a 38-14 lead.

“It’s a huge momentum boost going into regional play,” Roberts said. “We held them to 14 points in the first half, and that’s all credit to our defense and game-planing by our coaches. Realistically, we knew they would want it bad enough, with the last game going to overtime. I think we proved our point.”

As Roberts mentioned, the offense was great. However, the defense pleased Coach Levitch the most, as North Oldham dove after loose balls and rebounded at a high level.

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Oldham County’s Max Green ignites

After more of the same in the third quarter, with points coming from all of the Mustangs in bunches, the lead ballooned to 59-22. Two of the 21 third-quarter points came on a beautiful alley-oop from Dallas Roberts to Luke Anderson.

@SportsCenter take a look at this one. North Oldham leads 55-22 as @Dallas1Roberts drops a dime to Luke Anderson pic.twitter.com/pRCaexyuhi
— Brady Byrdwell (@BByrdwellKSR) February 25, 2023

Once the fourth quarter started, it seemed as though all hope was lost for Oldham County. It was just one of those days. However, Oldham County’s Max Green decided to score 21 straight points (wait, what?). Green pulled up for six consecutive threes (including one four-point play) and sunk two free throws to complete the feat. Each one of Green’s threes was more impressive than the previous. Like the great Tim Kitzrow once said, “He’s on fire!” — blink once and the ball may have been on fire.

Green’s impressive display of shooting brought the final score to a respectable 19-point defeat for the Colonels. Nevertheless, Green’s display of offense should be a great takeaway for the Oldham County faithful as he finished with 32 points.

Looking Ahead

North Oldham captured the one-seed with their win over Oldham County. This a significant step in their quest to repeat as 8th Region champions. After their quarterfinal exit in the Sweet 16 last season, the Mustangs are hungry to make a statement at Rupp.

“We want to win a state championship. At the end of the day, we came short of our goal last year. Everyone wants to say they wanna make it to Rupp, but we want to win it; we don’t just want to make it there. That’s our goal for sure,” Roberts said after the game.

Last season was the Mustangs’ first trip to Rupp Arena in school history, and they plan on making this trip longer. “We were inexperienced going in. We’ve never been there in school history, but now we know what it feels like. We’re ready to get after it.”