Record-breaking 3-point barrage helps South Oldham take down J-town in Boys’ Sweet 16
Move over Richie Farmer and Chris Lofton, there’s a new boys state tournament 3-point record-holder at Rupp Arena.
South Oldham’s Kolton Wuchterl buried 10 3-pointers on his way to 34 points to help the Dragons take down giant-killer Jeffersontown in a 76-75 thriller Friday in the 2025 UK Healthcare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 quarterfinals.
The instant classic between the two Louisville-area schools featured a 24-2 South Oldham run in the first half and a 17-0 Jeffersontown run that straddled halftime.
But the best came last as South Oldham and J-town exchanged the lead seven times over the last three minutes.
“What a great game. We came into this game really knowing it was going to be a 32-minute war,” South Oldham coach Steve Simpson said. “These guys showed tremendous grit, tremendous guts. It was a fight to win that game.”
South Oldham guard Julian Miles, who has already delivered two game-winning shots this postseason, drove in for a layup with 39 seconds left to get his third and set the final score.
Moments later, he forced a critical jump ball to win South Oldham possession with 26 seconds left. Though he missed two free throws that could have clinched the game with 11 seconds to go, the Dragons’ defense forced another Jeffersontown turnover in the closing seconds to seal the game.
“That’s just a normal game for us, really,” said Miles, who finished with 11 points, 12 assists and six steals. “We just gotta step it up on defense and get rebounds at crunch time. And I think us making shots also helps us keep our composure.”
Wuchterl (pronounced wuk-ter-ul) nailed his eighth 3-pointer to cut J-town’s biggest lead of the game to 65-60 with 4:23 left, his ninth 3-pointer to tie it at 65-65 with 3:08 to go and his Boys’ Sweet 16 record-breaking 10th 3-pointer to put the Dragons up 74-72 with 2:00 on the clock.
Pretty amazing for a 6-3 junior who averaged fewer than two 3-point makes and just 7.2 points per game. But his teammates were not surprised.
“Everyone on our team — day in, day out — anyone can do that,” Miles said. “And I’m just glad Kolton could do that tonight. It will be someone else tomorrow and the next game after that.”
After the game, Wuchterl acted as if the effort was nothing out of the ordinary.
“In practice, we always shoot and we keep shooting. So, I mean, it’s, it’s normal for us to be on fire and everything,” Wuchterl said. “We expect it to go in.”
South Oldham (31-5) obliterated its own KHSAA record for team 3-pointers this season with 453 makes, so far. The old mark was 394 by its 2019 team. It also took over the mark for most 3-point attempts with 1,152, surpassing Southwestern’s 2005 total of 1,085
Wuchterl admitted he hadn’t heard of Richie Farmer or Chris Lofton. To be fair, those legends’ high school careers ended well before Wuchterl was born. Clay County’s Farmer hit nine threes against Ballard in 1988. Mason County’s Lofton did the same against Ballard in 2003.
“That’s big-time company to be in, whether we realize that or not,” Simpson said, smiling.
Jeffersontown (27-7) took down No. 1 St. Xavier on Wednesday and looked to have overcome South Oldham’s huge run in the first half that at one point staked the Dragons to a 15-point lead.
Larron Westmoreland layups and a Dayvonne Harrison 3-pointer helped J-town retake the lead three times in the last 2:34 of the game. Westmoreland’s final bucket gave the Chargers a 75-74 advantage with 1:18 to go.
“They just kept playing. They fought all the way up to the end, and we just came up a little short today,” Jeffersontown coach Richard Duncan said. “I’m so proud of them. They had a great season.”
J-town’s leading scorer, Camron McDaniels, sat out more than five minutes of game time during that Dragons’ rally after drawing a technical foul when he ran into a South Oldham player following a first-quarter dunk.
His return with 3:13 left in the first half sparked J-town’s comeback. He finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists. Prince Kahnplaye added 16 points, Westmoreland and Harrison each scored 14 and Damere Clark chipped in 11.
This story was originally published March 28, 2025 at 7:43 PM.
