Buckner, KY – The ninth-ranked Oldham County Colonels won their eighth straight game with a nine-point decision over the Raiders of Iroquois in a matchup of Eighth Region and Sixth Region contenders.

The win moved the Colonels closer to a new Oldham County standard. During head coach Gary Forrest’s tenure, Oldham County has averaged over 20 wins a season; last year’s squad reached the 20 win mark faster than any previous team, winning 20 of their first 22 contests. But with wins at Carroll County next Tuesday, at top-20 Shelby County next Friday, and at home against Franklin County on February 5, this year’s team could reach the 20 win plateau in just 21 games.

First things first.

The Colonels faced a formidable opponent in the Raiders, despite Iroquois’ deceiving 7-8 record. Playing in Jefferson County, the Raiders had already faced opponents such as Pleasure Ridge Park, Moore, and Fairdale. Their seven victories included a win over PRP, ranked #20 by the Courier-Journal Litkenhous ratings. Oldham’s inexperienced backcourt looked to be tested by the quick Raiders, who pressed full-court and applied ferocious man-to-man pressure defense in the half-court.

Oldham scored first on – what else? – a Donta Smith dunk The Colonels never relinquished the lead. With the Colonels muscling the ball inside to their powerful inside players – Smith, Travis Liedtke, Brock Neal, and Matt Jacobson – Oldham built a seven point lead at 14-7 But the Raiders scored the final four points of the period to pull to within four at 14-7, and seemed to have the momentum heading into the second period.

Despite the early good fortune, Oldham was beginning to struggle. The Raiders were forcing repeated turnovers – Oldham had nine unofficially at halftime – and the Colonels were rapidly getting into serious foul trouble. When Travis Liedtke and Donta Smith both went to the bench in the first period with two fouls, the Colonels needed to re-group and find a scoring leader and some defensive intimidators.

Enter Matt Jacobson and Brock Neal. The two juniors normally combine for about 19 points per contest, but they rose to the occasion and scored a combined 35 points against Iroquois. Neal hit 8 of 12 shots in a variety of ways on the inside, and Jacobson nailed 7 of 14 shots, including three three-pointers. It was Matt who keyed the second period by hitting a three. After the Raiders’ Chesmon Jones countered with a three of his own, and Rob Taylor hit a free throw, Iroquois was within 2 at 17-15, however.

But the Colonels always had an answer, and Matt and Brock kept the offense going. Of Oldham’s 18 second-quarter points, Jacobson and Neal combined for 13. Late in the period, Jarriott Huddleston scored to push the lead to double digits for the first time at 30-19, completing a 13-4 Oldham run. At the half, the lead was nine at 32-23, and neither Donta or Travis had picked up their third foul.

The third quarter cinched the victory for the Colonels. After Demetrius Fuqua scored to pull Iroquois to within seven again at 32-25, Jacobson hit his third three and Liedtke scored inside to push the lead to 12. Bobby Fuqua pulled the Raiders to within ten at 37-27 when Donta Smith brought down the house.

It started when Donta took the ball in the right corner, got a step on his defender, and took the ball down the baseline to the hoop, culminating the move with a massive, two-handed slam. He then stole the ensuing pass, and – with the basket still shaking from the previous dunk – slammed home another two-handed dunk to propel Oldham to a fourteen point cushion at 41-27. The Raiders called time out, but the Colonels had the crowd on its feet, and the momentum on their side. Brad Koenig hit two free throws to push the lead to 16, keying a 10-4 run by Oldham County to close the quarter.

Along the way, Brock Neal brought the crowd to its feet with a drive to the hoop that resulted in Brock taking the ball behind his back and finishing with a reverse layup.

When the third quarter ended, Oldham owned a 51-31 lead over a totally deflated Raider team. And after Neal scored to begin the fourth period, and Donta got his fourth dunk of the night to push the lead to 55-31, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

Oldham matched its biggest lead of the night at 57-33 on a basket by Jacobson, then Coach Forrest began pulling the starters. Still, with 45.9 seconds to go, Oldham led by 18 at 62-44 after Brandon Berry hit one of two free throws. What followed was an amazing one-man show by Bobby Fuqua, who hit a three pointer with about 40 seconds to go in the game, stole the inbounds pass, then hit a second three. After Joel Gastright was fouled on the ensuing inbounds play and hit one of two free throws to make the score 63-50, Bobby Fuqua scored, stole another inbounds pass, and scored again just before the buzzer.

Fuqua’s one-man 10-1 run over the final forty seconds made the final score a deceiving 63-54 and allowed Iroquois to become one of just seven opponents to reach the 50 point mark against the state’s top-ranked scoring defense.

Oldham County played 12 players, of which 8 scored.

Oldham – Jacobson 18, D. Smith 17, Neal 17, Liedtke 4, Koenig 3, Huddleston 2, Gastright 1, Berry 1

Iroquois – B. Fuqua 22, D. Fuqua 8, Jones 7, Beasley 7, Goodlow 5, Taylor 5