South wins district outright

GOSHEN – On the left side of the South Oldham High School boys’ basketball team’s jersey shorts was a gray Superman logo.

Jason Stamm

SOHS senior guard Matt Haysley led the Dragons' attack with 13 points.

While no individual took the superhero role Tuesday night, as a team, the Dragons were a super.

Using a powerful second half, visiting SOHS put away North Oldham 60-48 Tuesday night to go 3-0 in district play and win the district regular season. The Dragons will be the top seed in the district tournament later this month.

Had NOHS won tonight and at Trimble County this week, there would have been a three-way tie, which would’ve been decided by the Litkenhous Ratings.

“Everybody has been doubting us because two years ago, we lost eight seniors,” SOHS junior guard Matt Haysley said. “People didn’t expect us to be good, but those guys helped us get better in practice.”

After trailing 25-20 at halftime, the Dragons stormed into the second half on a 9-2 run, six points coming from Haysley.

Following a third quarter foul-fest that saw a stretch of a combined 10 fouls and just two points by both teams, the Dragons got moving. Back-to-back three-pointers by sophomore guard Kyle Young and junior guard Michael Haysley gave SOHS a 40-33 lead.

The lead grew to 54-46 before the Mustangs’ senior point guard, Kameron Shams, then junior guard David Levitch, each fouled out, allowing the Mustangs to coast to the win.

“I’m not gonna say I predicted this but it doesn’t surprise me since I know how hard they worked in the pre-season,” SOHS coach Steve Simpson said of his Dragons winning the district’s regular season title. “They’re really bent on counting their own part in the tradition we’ve had going the last few years.

The Dragons hit seven three-pointers, while NOHS shot 1-12. The lone three-pointer came from junior guard Jordan Yates in the game’s first few minutes.

Though Levitch finished with a game-high 18 points, even he couldn’t find his long-range shot against a stout SOHS defense that used a 1-3-1 attack and forced 20 turnovers by the Mustangs.

“We just came out in the second half so flat,” Levitch said. “We weren’t mentally into it. We fell asleep, they started hitting shots and we couldn’t catch back up.”

As the game’s final seconds ticked away, NOHS senior center Devon Rowan crouched under the Dragons’ basket and smacked the floor with his palms.

Rowan finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds, but the loss relegates the Mustangs to no better than the third seed in the district tournament.

“The 1-3-1 caught us off guard and we didn’t know how to handle it,” he said. “In the second half, we stopped moving the ball around and just kinda went one-on-one. But it’s over at midnight. We just have to come back and get ready for the next game.”

Unlike Rowan, the Dragons had plenty of support in the win. Matthew Haysley’s 13 points came off the bench, while his brother Michael had 11 points and junior guard Mitch Catinna added 10 points.

“It’s always nice to win on your rival’s home court,” Michael Haysley said. “But I just try to come off the bench, give energy to our team and do the best I can.”

The Mustangs will try to rebound at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Trimble County, a game coach David Henley said NOHS has to bounce back for.

“We just have to take care of the ball,” he said. “We did better with not allowing second-chance points, but unfortunately, taking care of the ball reared its ugly head.”

The Dragons still have seven regular season games left, but with the district sewn up, Simpson said SOHS still has to stay focused and prepare for the post-season.

“We’re gonna continue to try to improve because anybody can beat anybody,” he said. “It’s not a gimme, so we wanna do more than just get to the region. There’s a lot of things we can work on.”

Email us about this story at: sports@oldhamera.com.