Bedford, KY – In last year’s 2000 31^st District Basketball Tournament, the Trimble County Raiders upset the South Oldham Dragons in the semi-finals in overtime, denying South coach Jeff Griffin an opportunity to take his final Dragon team to the Region 8 Tournament.

This year, in an equally tight ballgame, the Dragons returned the favor, knocking off the Raiders on their home court in the semi-finals, and keeping Trimble coach Doug Oak from the Region tournament in his final year as head coach.

Like last year’s District contest, and the regular season game in December – won by Trimble County, 59-56 – this game was expected to be very close. Many expected it to rival the Gallatin County – Carroll County boys game (won by Gallatin, 73-71, after trailing by 18) in excitement.

Everybody was right.

The game featured 9 ties and 9 lead changes. The teams played with spirit, but the intensity level was so high that precision was sorely lacking. In the end, it was the basics that made the difference.

South got off to a fast start, breaking a 6-6 tie with a 9-0 run to push out to an early 15-6 lead. Four different Dragons – Brad Cofer, Troy Schultz, T. J. Beisner, and Matt Kennedy – scored during the run, highlighted by a Kennedy three. Jeff Liston’s free throw for Trimble made it 15-7, South, after one.

The nine-point South lead would wind up being the biggest lead for either team all night.

Neither team could get much going in the first 3 ½ minutes of the second quarter. South led at that point, 18-10, and because Trimble was basically punchless on offense, the capacity Trimble County crowd was completely silent. But with the score 20-12, the Dragons started getting sloppy, and the Raiders began to make them pay.

A Eugene Wilson three pointer with 2:31 left in the half pulled Trimble to within five at 20-15. After Evan Ogburn hit one free throw to pull the Raiders to within four, Trimble proceeded to miss four consecutive free throw attempts.

The missed free throws were a temporary setback, though. With the crowd roaring in the tiny gymnasium – a tremendous atmosphere, the Trimble gym rocked all night long – the Raiders pulled to within two on a Justin Clifford basket. Evan Ogburn then drove the baseline for a powerful layup with nine seconds to go to tie the game at 20.

From that point on, neither team would lead by more than five points, and no lead was safe for long. Less than two minutes into the second half, the Raiders went into the lead for the first time since 2-0 on a basket by Clifford, giving them a 24-23 edge. Moments later, an Andrew Stethan three gave Trimble its biggest lead of the night at 31-27.

Brad Cofer pulled South to within one at 31-30 with his only three pointer of the night, and then came a pivotal moment.

Matt Kennedy was fouled in the act of shooting a three pointer – the second of three times it happened on the night. In frustration, Eugene Wilson slammed the basketball to the court, earning a technical from the three-man officiating crew.

Kennedy then stepped to the line, drilling all three personal foul free throws and both of the technical shots. Although the Dragons failed to convert on the out-of-bounds play following the free throws, the five-point trip propelled them back into the lead at 35-31.

Trimble tied the game at 38 with 5:53 to go, then went ahead on a three by Scott Simmons. But Kennedy’s third trip to the line for three free throws tied the game again, and set the stage for a nip-and-tuck race to the finish.

Trimble took their final lead of the night at 53-52 on a bucket and a free throw by Clifford with 1:46 left, but Steven Hay scored just 17 seconds later to put South back on top. The Raiders would gain one more tie, but would never lead again.

That’s when the two teams tried mightily to hand each other the victory. With 1:08 to go, T.J. Beisner fouled out. Clifford stepped to the stripe, and promptly clunked both free throws. On the ensuing possession, South milked some clock before Cofer hit two free throws with 38.6 seconds left to give the Dragons a three point edge.

Wilson scored at the 32.0 second mark, but missed the opportunity to tie the game when he flubbed a free throw after being fouled on the shot. The Dragons, however, perhaps being a bit more gracious than coach Steve Simpson would have liked, gave the Raiders another chance when Travis Foley missed two free throws with 23.7 seconds to go.

Scott Simmons missed a close-in shot for Trimble, got his own rebound, missed again, and then Evan Ogburn was fouled with 12.7 seconds to go. But Ogburn missed both shots, and Troy Schultz rebounded for South. Fouled immediately by Trimble County, Schultz walked to the other end of the court and missed both of his free throws with 10.5 seconds showing on the clock.

During his post-game comments, Coach Simpson indicated that he thought about pulling all of South’s players from the line in order to avoid any fouls, regardless of what Schultz did. But he chose not to, so of course, Kennedy fouled junior center Zak Ellis trying to rebound Schultz’ second miss.

With 9.5 seconds still showing, Ellis tied the game with his first free throw. But he missed the second shot and Schultz rebounded again. Schultz handed off to Travis Foley, who dribbled the length of the court and attacked the basket, dropping a fingertip role through the hoop with just 0.9 seconds left.

After two timeouts, Trimble got the ball into frontcourt to a wide-open Zak Ellis just across the timeline, but his thirty footer missed everything at the buzzer and South had a date with Oldham County in Friday’s final at 7 pm.

In the end, it was free throws that doomed Trimble. Both teams hit 19 shots from the floor; both teams hit four three-pointers. But South scored on two more free throws, despite shooting five fewer. The Dragons shot only 64.0% from the line (16 of 25), but Trimble County hit just 14 of 30 for 46.7%.

In the final 32 seconds of the ballgame, the two teams combined to hit just 1 of 10 free throws.

South improves to 13-14 on the season, Trimble County finishes its year at 11-19.

NEXT GAME: Oldham County (23-4) vs. South Oldham (13-14), boys 31^st District final, Friday, March 2, 2001, pregame begins at 6:30 pm on WYKY 105.7 FM.

Scoring:

South Oldham – Kennedy 17, Foley 10, Hay 10, Cofer 9, Schultz 8, Beisner 4

Trimble County – Clifford 16, Wilson 13, Simmons 11, Ellis 7, Ogburn 5, A. Stethen 3, Liston

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