Oldham County entered the 2000 31st District Tournament wearing the mantle of favorite, but Gary Forrest's squad was dealt the challenge of battling out of the long bracket in the tourney, beginning with a matchup with the Gallatin County Wildcats in a re-match of last year's overtime District final.

The Colonels had defeated the Wildcats by 18 points on 1/4/00, but this was do-or-die for both squads, and Coach Jon Jones of Gallatin County had the number-five scorer in Kentucky in 6'5" senior Jason White, who averaged nearly 26 points per contest.  Few teams, however, went into their District tournaments on a greater roll than Oldham County, who had won five in a row and eight of their last nine.

Oldham County got on the scoreboard first, on a rousing dunk by Eric Johnson off a fast-break.  That jump-started the Colonels to an early 9-4 lead, but the Wildcats quickly began cutting into the margin.  With Jason White scoring 9 first quarter points, Gallatin trimmed the lead to 14-13 after one quarter.

The 'Cats continued to rally in the second, tying the game for the first time since 2-2 on a three-pointer by Justin White - Jason's younger brother - with 4:28 to go in the half.  But the Colonels regrouped and went on a 16-8 run to end the half and take their largest lead of the night, 34-26, at the break.

Particularly impressive in the first half was the play of junior center Nathaniel Johnson.  The 6'6" Johnson dominated the glass at both ends of the court, and was very successful in finding the seams in the 2-3 zone employed by Gallatin.  At the break, Johnson was 6 of 8 from the floor and 1 of 2 at the line for 13 points.

The second half started slowly, with the two teams trading baskets in the first 2:16 of the period.  The Colonels, however, turned up the defensive heat, causing turnover and turnover and igniting the offense.  When Nathaniel Johnson stuck in a soft jumper with 4:00 left in the third to cap a 6-2 Oldham County run, the Colonels had their biggest lead of the night,
42-30.

With a minute and a half left in the period, Eric Johnson re-wrote the script and turned a competitive game into a rout.  With 1:22 left in the third, Johnson stole the ball, scored, was fouled, and hit the free throw to stake Oldham to a fifteen point lead at 47-32.  Just seven seconds later, Johnson stole the ball again, leading to another layup and a 49-32 lead after three quarters.

The Colonels slowed the pace of the game somewhat in the fourth quarter. Gallatin County struggled to cut the lead down, but with 4:18 left, the Wildcats trimmed the margin to nine at 52-41, but they got no closer. Oldham County hit eight of eleven fourth-quarter free throws to seal the win.

It was the fourteenth time (in 27 games) this season that Oldham County opponents have scored 50 points or less.  Nowhere was the defensive effort more evident than in the performance of John Whte, who was held to 15 points - 4 in the second half.

Unofficially, Nathaniel Johnson led Oldham with 18 points; Phil Allen and Eric Johnson added 13 and 11, respectively

Oldham County (22-5) advances to play Carroll County in the second round of the District on Thursday, March 2, 2000 at 7:45 pm in the Carroll County Gym.
 

The opener didn't offer much in the way of suspense.  Trimble County jumped on top early, behind the shooting of Beth Wagner (10 first-half points) and Cossi Fisher (three first-half threes and 11 points first-half points), and took a 34-15 lead into the locker room.  From that point on, it was simply a matter of tacking on more points as Trimble ran away with a 66-4 win.

Beth Wagner (16 points) and Cossi Fisher (13 points)  led the way for the victors.  Christie Wallace led Carroll with 14 points.

Trimble County improved to 15-8 and advanced to a second-round matchup against the Gallatin County Lady Wildcats on Thursday at 6 pm.

105.7 FM WXLM will carry both Thursday games LIVE, beginning with a
pre-game show at 5:30 pm.
 

Reported by: Mike Montgomery