LEXINGTON, Ky. – A long journey hit some impressive milestones for the South Oldham High School boys basketball team and coach Steve Simpson on Thursday.
Behind a balanced scoring attack and some stout defense, the Dragons knocked off Owensboro Catholic 58-34 in the first round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 in front of 12,349 fans at Rupp Arena.
It marked the first Sweet 16 victory for South Oldham and the 300th victory for Simpson during his 16-year tenure at the school.
“South Oldham has been so good to me,” said Simpson, who coached at Lincoln County before taking the South Oldham position in 2000. “I’m just grateful to them for sticking with me and allowing me to stay there long enough to accomplish this. And the players along the way have worked so hard.”
Grant Williams and Jacob Bray scored 11 points, Dyllon Hoover added 10 and Joe Griffin pitched in nine as the Dragons (29-5) advanced to face South Laurel (28-6) in Friday’s 8 p.m. quarterfinal.
The Dragons entered the game shooting 40.7 percent from 3-point range and had hit a state-record 355 3-pointers this season. They made just 9 of 32 (28.1 percent) from behind the arc on Thursday but still were able to advance.
“We didn’t play our best tonight or shoot as well as we’re capable,” Simpson said. “But we played very hard defensively, and I’m very proud of their efforts.”
Ray Zuberer had 12 points and four assists to lead Owensboro Catholic (22-10), which was playing in the state tournament for the first time.
The Aces shot just 25.5 percent (12 of 47).
“We never got in a real flow,” Aces coach Tim Riley said. “It’s really hard to play good basketball when you miss shots. … Defensively we weren’t bad. We just couldn’t score.”
Zuberer’s layup just before the buzzer pulled Owensboro Catholic within 26-20 at halftime, but it was all South Oldham in the third quarter.
Scoreless in the first half, Bray hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored eight points during a 12-2 run that gave the Dragons a 38-22 lead at the 2:29 mark of the third quarter.
“We have 10 guys who can score, and those kind of things have been happening all year,” Simpson said. “We’ll have a couple of guys who don’t do anything, and then they’ll come out after halftime and go out and knock down shots. … It was good for his confidence. He’d been struggling a little bit.”
South Oldham cruised the rest of the way, getting its starters some valuable rest heading into the quarterfinals.
The Dragons were excited to advance, but Thursday night was about honoring their coach and his milestone victory.
“It just means so much because he’s an awesome coach,” Williams said. “He’s behind us in everything we do. For him to get that milestone mark and us to be the team that did it for him means a lot to us.”
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
OWENSBORO CATHOLIC 10 10 4 10 – 34
SOUTH OLDHAM 18 8 17 15 – 58
Owensboro Catholic (22-10) – Hayden 4, Payne 8, Reid 4, Zuberer 12, Reid 2, Survant 3, Gray 1.
South Oldham (29-5) – Young 5, Griffin 9, Williams 11, Bouvet 7, Bray 11, Hoover 10, Snook 2, Clark 3.
3-point goals – Zuberer 2, Survant; Williams 3, Bouvet, Bray 3, Hoover, Clark.
