North Oldham makes first Sweet 16: "We've been dreaming about this for a long time"

North Oldham’s first-ever berth in the Boys Sweet Sixteen has been brewing for years now.

It started with backyard hoops and after-school pickup games, long before the thought of eventually competing for a state title would ever feel real. Just a group of boys from a small community right outside of Louisville that loved playing basketball together. But little did they know, the chemistry and bonds they built during that time would lead to their high school’s most successful boys basketball season in program history.

On Tuesday night, the North Oldham Mustangs locked up its spot in the 2022 Boys Sweet Sixteen Tournament, where 16 of Kentucky’s best high schools will battle for the state’s ultimate crown. North Oldham has been around for nearly 20 years now, but never once produced a team talented enough to reach the Sweet Sixteen.

But then Dallas Roberts, Ian Higdon, Jack Scales, and Luke Anderson all entered their junior year.

Those four combined for 56 of North Oldham’s points in the 8th Region Tournament title game, a 63-53 victory over the Woodford County Yellow Jackets. Mustangs’ head coach David Levitch couldn’t have asked for a better start, either. North Oldham played its best half of basketball all season long at the perfect time, carrying a commanding 45-19 lead into halftime. Woodford County did its best to make the game interesting down the stretch, but a 26-point deficit was simply too much.

“I don’t think we could have played a better first quarter, which really set the tone,” Coach Levitch said after the win. “We were a little sluggish in the second half but that’s kind of expected with a 26-point lead and a good team like that. It’s really hard — I mean we literally played perfect. I think we had one turnover in the first half.”

FINAL:

North Oldham 63, Woodford County 53

Woodford did everything it could to come back, even cutting the lead down to 9 in the 4th Q, but Oldham’s first half was too much to overcome.

North Oldham heading to Rupp Arena. pic.twitter.com/huWxNwQnlB

— Zack Geoghegan (@ZGeogheganKSR) March 9, 2022

Levitch has been coaching most of North Oldham’s current players since he took the job four years ago. Roberts and Higdon were in eighth grade during his first season, and they’ve all grown together since then. Tuesday night was every bit of a dream come true. Now, they’re all heading to Rupp Arena.

“It means a lot. Back in grade school, this is what you dream about,” Roberts said after the win. “We got second in state in like seventh grade so we wanted to win one. It’s special, man… We’ve been dreaming about this for a long time.“

Roberts is North Oldham’s leading scorer and go-to point guard, averaging 17.5 points per game this season. He dropped 31 in the 8th Region Tournament opener against Walton-Verona and was named the Tournament MVP for his overall efforts, averaging 18.3 points, three rebounds, and five assists across the three games. Georgetown College offered him back in the summer while Division I programs such as Evansville, Belmont, Southern Illinois, Elon, Bellarmine, and Manhattan are all poking around.

He’s not all that North Oldham has to offer, though. Jack Scales averages over 12 points per game and shoots nearly 42 percent from deep. Luke Anderson is the team’s most efficient scorer at 68.7 percent from the field. Sophomore Grant Neal fills out the rotation with his 7.5 points per game. Then you’ve got Ian Higdon — Roberts’ good friend and partner in crime — a bouncy 6-foot-6 forward who averages 12.6 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. And much like Roberts, he’s been looking forward to this moment for a long time.

“That’s been a dream of mine since I was literally in fifth grade,” Higdon said. “I’ve always wanted to play in that big arena and I’ve always wanted to win. We just know the job’s not finished and we know what we need to do to make it happen.”

This was the vision back in middle school, whether they truly knew or even believed it at the time. It makes sense, though, that the group of hoopers who grew up together, would learn how to play together at an incredibly high level. They know each other’s tendencies and where their favorite spots are. You can’t create that level of chemistry out of thin air. It’s carefully, yet unintentionally, crafted.

“I’ve been playing middle school ball with Dallas and Jack and Luke since I was in sixth grade,” Higdon added. “So this is a family, we built a brotherhood and it feels great. It feels great.”

It’s not often a group of kids stick around long enough to build that brotherhood. Families move, people switch hobbies, find new friends, etc. But every now and then, it’ll happen, and something special typical follows. Despite battling midseason injuries and a brief losing stretch, this group never wavered.

“It’s what every parent wishes for,” Jeff Roberts, Dallas’ dad, said after the game. “But I’d say for them, it’s just a culmination of all the hard work, the camaraderie, all that kind of stuff, and they’re not a team that was built last year. They’re a team that’s been built over time and it’s pretty special. Pretty special for this whole community honestly.”

What makes the win even more impressive for the Mustangs was the fact that all of the juniors took the ACT the same morning. The school should probably go ahead and sign them up for another attempt, though — no one would blame them if their minds were elsewhere.

“Hopefully I got two w’s tonight,” Higdon joked.

When they all get to Rupp Arena, the last thing in the world they’ll have to worry about is a standardized test. The only focus will be to win four games in four days. North Oldham will open its inaugural Sweet Sixteen run on Wednesday, March 16 at 1:30 p.m. EST against Muhlenberg County. Considering how loaded this year’s field is and the return of fans to the stands, the crowd atmosphere should be electric for the entire tournament.

“I’m a Kentucky fan, man. That’s just special,” Roberts said of getting to play at Rupp for the first time. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in a college arena yet so I’m more than excited and I know this team is.”

Not a bad arena to get your feet wet, huh