New Castle, KY – The Henry County High School gymnasium has been very kind to the Oldham County Colonels for the past three years. Adding up all the Eighth Region tournament games and two regular season matchups with the Henry County Wildcats, the Colonels have gone a perfect 11-0 in the New Castle gymnasium during that time. And along the way, Oldham County has won three consecutive regional crowns. They wrapped up Number Three on Saturday (March 15, 2003) with a gritty 58-50 victory over the 32^nd District Champions, the Grant County Braves.

Both teams came into the contest in high gear. Oldham had rolled through the 31^st District tournament, with easy wins over Trimble County (73-36) and South Oldham (69-45). The Colonels whipped Walton-Verona, 73-51, to open the region tournament, and then held off a stubborn Bullitt East squad in the semi-finals, 62-55, by scoring 11 of the final 15 points of the game.

Grant County had defeated Williamstown in the 32^nd District first round, upset region favorite Scott County, 80-69, in the semi-final round, and then beat Walton-Verona to advance to the region as district champs. The Braves rallied from a twelve-point deficit against a short-handed South Oldham team in the region’s opening round and came away with a 74-68 win. They then survived a missed layup at the buzzer to defeat Anderson County, 48-47, in the semi-final round.

The Braves’ last loss had been to Oldham County, a loss that left them with a record of 12-11. Since then, they had ripped off seven straight wins to move to 19-11. Looking for just the third regional title in school history – the Braves had last won the title in 1979 - Grant had assumed the "Cinderella" role in the tournament.

Both teams boasted marquee players: Grant’s Tyler Jones was among the state’s leading scorers and free throw shooters, and had been named 8^th Region Player of the Year. Oldham’s three powerful front line players - Matt Jacobson, Max Kuiper, and Brock Neal – had all been named to the All-Eighth Region team.

The Braves roared out of the gate. Trailing 4-2, the Dry Ridge team scored eleven unanswered points to pull out to a 13-4 advantage before Jerriott Huddleston scored on a driving layup. After a basket by Jason Combs, however, the Braves had a nine-point lead after one period, 15-6.

After one period, Oldham County was a paltry 2 of 14 from the floor. Leading scorer Matt Jacobson was 0 for 4 from the field and only 2 of 4 from the line.

The Colonels regrouped for the second period, scoring the first six points of the period on baskets by Brock Neal and Huddleston, and two Neal free throws to pull to within three. Tyler Jones seemed ready to take over the contest by personally outscoring Oldham, 5-2, over the next few moments to push Grant back out to a 20-14 lead, but another Oldham run – this time a 7-0 run capped by a Brandon Berry three-pointer – pushed the Colonels ahead for the first time since 4-2 at 21-20. The half ended nearly dead-even with Grant on top, 24-23.

The third period brought a war of attrition, as neither team gave ground. There were four ties and three lead changes in the period, which ended with Oldham County on top, 37-36. Back-to-back baskets by Kuiper and Neal gave Oldham its biggest lead of the night so far at 36-33, before a Jones three-pointer tied it. Matt Jacobson hit one of two free throws to wrap up the third period scoring.

As it turned out, Oldham had taken the lead for good. The Colonels, with Jacobson getting two baskets and Neal one, scored the first six points of the final stanza to move ahead, 43-36. The Colonels held Grant scoreless for nearly half the period, before Dustin Plunkett hit one of two free throws to stem the tide temporarily. Jon McCarthy pushed Oldham to its biggest lead of the night at 46-37 before Grant got their first basket of the period with just 3:30 remaining in the contest. Derrick Link – who hit just two baskets in the entire tournament – nailed a three pointer to pull Grant to within six at 46-40. A basket by Plunkett made it 46-42 before two free throws by Neal gave Oldham a six point advantage at 48-42 with 2:22 remaining.

That’s when the wheels got a bit wobbly for Oldham.

Over the next two minutes, Oldham managed to either turn the ball over or miss every free throw they took. Three different Colonels missed the front end of bonus free throw situations, and with a little over a half a minute to play, Jones scored to pull Grant to within 48-46.

That’s when the Colonels re-discovered their free throw shooting touch. Max Kuiper hit one free throw, but when he missed the second, Brock Neal rebounded and was fouled. His two free throws pushed Oldham out to a 51-46 edge with 32.8 seconds to play. From there, the Colonels hit 7 of 8 charity tosses to keep the Braves at bay and hold on for the 58-50 win.

Matt Jacobson led the Colonels with 22 points, while Brock Neal added 16. Jacobson was named MVP of the tournament, and he was joined on the All-Tournament team by Neal and Kuiper.

Oldham moves to 25-6 on the season. They will play the Fourteenth Region champs, Powell County, at 12 noon on Wednesday (March 19, 2003) in the first game of the boys’ Sweet 16 Tournament at Rupp Arena.

Stay tuned to Sports Zone Radio (105.7 FM / AM 1600) for coverage of the Colonels throughout the tournament.

For Oldham County, this was the 12^th Eighth Region crown in school history, second only to Shelby County’s fourteen 8^th Region titles.