North Oldham fends off Louisville Butler to reach first boys’ Sweet 16 semis
Thomas Gregg was a relative afterthought in the scoring column after North Oldham’s opener against Lyon County in the first round of the UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16.
The Mustangs’ leading scorer on the season ranked fourth on the points chart, along with teammate Gus Soule, with nine points. Gregg attempted only eight shots in that first-round game.
Gregg was feeling froggier Friday night at Rupp Arena. He scored 19 on a 7-for-14 shooting night and grabbed 10 rebounds for North Oldham in a 62-56 win over Butler in the quarterfinals.
“It wasn’t super intentional,” said Gregg, who scored 11 of his points and had six rebounds in the second quarter alone. “I just know that on any given night my teammates and my coaches trust me to make those plays. It wasn’t the game plan or anything, but I just came out to attack.”
The Mustangs (27-6), who secured a school-record 27th victory on the season along with their first trip to the state semifinals, will play George Rogers Clark at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
The Mustangs needed just about every point Gregg delivered. His last six came in the fourth quarter, in which he went 4 for 4 from the free-throw line inside the final 1 minute, 13 seconds. But the rebounds may have been an even bigger difference-maker.
North Oldham outrebounded Butler 34-19 with most of that margin coming off its own misses; the Mustangs pulled down 12 offensive rebounds against the undersized Bears.
“(When) we talked yesterday, somebody asked me what our team needed to do better going into tomorrow, and we didn’t rebound the ball well enough when it came down to it,” said Butler coach Kevin Geary, whose team was also outrebounded in a win over Hazard on Thursday (32-22). “That’s been our Achilles heel all year and I think it ended up ending our season tonight.”
Butler (27-5) nearly claimed another state-tournament game in spite of its diminutive glasswork and despite another cold start from the floor. It trailed 12-4 after the first quarter and by 16 late in the second quarter before ending the first half on an 8-2 run, fueled by intense full-court pressure, to get within 30-21 at the break.
The Bears’ press continued to pay dividends around the halftime break. Starting with 1:55 left in the second quarter all the way to the 2:49 mark of the third, they made 12 of their 13 shot attempts. They had a 41-36 lead after that blitz, but North Oldham answered with a 7-0 run to go back in front for good entering the fourth quarter.
Butler made an adjustment in the second half that centered on keeping the ball away from Pierre Rondo, North Oldham’s eighth-grade point guard. Rondo, who scored 25 points and dished out seven assists in his state-tournament debut, scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half and had five dimes against the Bears.
Also a benefit to the Bears’ cause, Gus Soule, North Oldham’s other primary ball-handler, was hampered by foul trouble.
“We basically had our forwards bring the ball up the court because they were running and jumping Pierre in the half court, full court … basically not letting him get the ball at any point,” Mustangs coach David Levitch said. “We had a lot of guys out of position, and they were able to handle it.”
Scoreboard failure during the game
The scoreboards in Rupp Arena didn’t display the game’s score, in-game statistics or foul counts for most of the game.
The public-address announcer continued to provide relevant information as usual, but both coaches after the game said it made their jobs a bit more difficult.
“It was a little weird,” Levitch said. “Not only knowing the score, the only time things were on the shot clock areas and the team fouls, you couldn’t really see anything. We were telling our guys the score, but it was definitely a little different, especially in a game of this magnitude.”
Geary was clear not to attribute any blame for the loss on the scoreboard snafu, though he did note a significant way it affected the Bears’ approach.
“With the way the fouls work now, late in either the second or third quarter, I wanted to foul to kill the clock and just let them take a sideout with like 8 seconds left and set our defense, but I wasn’t sure what the foul count was and I didn’t want to put them on the line.
“So I will say that that part did have an effect because I couldn’t just look up and know instantly how many fouls we had had, if we had one to give. We practice that all the time; we’ll foul people just to set our defense.”
This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 9:30 PM.