Oldham County junior Brooks Kightlinger draws a foul in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
Oldham County junior Xavier McGlon dribbles the ball in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
Oldham County junior Will Hinkle passes the ball in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
Oldham County junior Brooks Kightlinger draws a foul in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
Oldham County junior Xavier McGlon dribbles the ball in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
Oldham County junior Will Hinkle passes the ball in an 88-58 loss to Highlands.
The Oldham County Colonels (2-4) fell 88-58 to the Highlands Bluebirds (5-0) on Monday, Dec. 16 at home.
Oldham County head coach Chris Renner was encouraged to see his short-handed team come out and be competitive in the first and third quarter, but he knows with younger players that there is a lot to learn.
“We were able to make some plays offensively and defensively,” Renner said. “The hardest part for a lot of teams is, when you get down to a certain point, everything starts to fall apart. I told them at halftime, ‘everything we wanted to accomplish in the game, none of it was happening, and we had to get some of that back.’ The third quarter, we cut it to 14 [points]. It was getting ready to 30, and we cut it to 14 and showed a little bit of fight and just didn’t have enough experience or skill to get through and stay in the game. We’ll just take it from there.”
Sophomore Cooper Collins led the Colonels with 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers in the game. Eighth grader Ty Bryant scored 14 points on the night.
“We’re seeing that it’s just not been obviously consistent, but you’re not going to get consistency from young guys,” Renner said. “I hate it for like Brooks [Kightlinger], a junior and Will [Hinkle], a junior, and Tim [Rankin], the only senior right now, because they’re role players, whatever role that might be, and yet, they’re having to expand to a role that they’re not ready for, they’re not capable of. It just puts a lot of pressure on them…We want to, at the end of the year, be able to say, look, ‘we got a chance to go win something.’ That’s our goal. It’s a process, and all these steps will get us better.”
Bluebird junior Owen Ebert opened the game with a three, and Bryant matched him. Collins followed with a three before Highlands junior Finn Bouldin made a layup before making another after a steal. Oldham County retook the lead on a three by sophomore Austin Schmitt.
Bouldin tied the game on a layup before Bryant and Kightlinger blocked back-to-back shots. However, Bouldin gave the Bluebirds the lead on a floater. Schmitt and Collins hit consecutive 3-pointers before Bryant made two free throws.
Highlands junior Vincent Listerman made a layup, and Collins matched him with a mid-range shot. After sophomore Cale Harris made a layup, the Bluebirds forced consecutive turnovers with under a minute left in the first quarter, leading to a three and a layup by Ebert to give Highlands a 21-19 lead at the end of the first period.
Ebert began the second quarter with a layup, and Kightlinger responded with two free throws. Ebert started to answer every point by Oldham County. He drained a three and two free throws after a layup by Colonel junior Xavier McGlon. Oldham County’s Rankin made a layup off an assist by eighth grader Matt Withrow, but Ebert answered with a three.
Harris and junior Thomas Messmer hit layups for the Bluebirds. Bryant blocked a shot off the backboard, leading to a three by Collins for the Colonels. Highlands started a 15-4 run with its full-court press causing multiple turnovers by Oldham County.
Ebert and Bouldin started the run with layups off steals while sophomore Tayden Lorenzen also made a layup. Bouldin converted another steal into a layup before Lorenzen banked in a mid-range shot off a turnover.
Bryant matched Lorenzen with a mid-range, but Bouldin responded with a steal and a layup. Lorenzen came up with another steal, leading to a three by Ebert. Bryant banked in a shot at the end of the first half to cut the Colonel deficit to 50-32.
Kightlinger started the second half making a contested layup. Ebert answered him with a 3-pointer before coming up with a steal and hitting another 3-pointer. Kightlinger made a putback, but Bouldin responded with a layup. After another Kightlinger putback, junior Charlie Messmer gave Highlands a 61-38 lead with a three.
Collins and Lorenzen matched each other, and Collins came back with a three off an assist by Hinkle. After a missed free throw, Hinkle came up with an offensive rebound, leading to a three by Bryant.
Bryant found Withrow for a three, cutting the Oldham County deficit to 65-51. Harris made a layup, and Hinkle answered back with a layup of his own. Ebert made two free throws at the end of the third quarter to push the Highlands lead to 69-53.
“It’s definitely good to see that they responded,” Renner said. “That shows there’s a little bit of grit and toughness that they have. It’s just one of those when you’re playing a team and you’re not as skilled as they are and you’re playing a team that’s bigger, stronger and faster and when you’re playing a team that has more experience, you can’t have all areas break down. You can’t turn the ball over, give up offensive rebounds and not play defense. You have to do something well.”
Highlands and Oldham County matched each other to begin the fourth quarter before the Bluebirds started to pull away. Bouldin made a three, and Lorenzen followed with a layup.
Highlands scored another eight consecutive points before Collins hit a three for Oldham County’s last points of the game. The Bluebirds won 88-58.
Oldham County will play the Danville Christian Warriors (4-1) on Friday, Dec. 20 at Rowan County Middle School at 8 p.m.
“We have to watch some film and see our mistakes,” Renner said. “We have to get Henry [Marcum] practicing. He’s been doing a little bit of contact stuff so getting those pieces back out here. When you have so many moving parts, it looks like they don’t know what they’re doing. You take a game like that, and inexperienced players just lose their minds. Getting them back, practice will be a lot more focused on the little details to make us a better team.”
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