Aric Russell hadn’t seen the statistics from Wednesday’s boys 10th Region quarterfinal game for at least 10 minutes after the final buzzer.
When Campbell County’s coach finally took a gander, he was happy. There it was – an 83-50 running-clock win over Paris at the Mason County Fieldhouse.
“We were talking in there about (how) our offensive boards were really good; we were happy with how hard we hit the glass,” Russell said. “I felt like our defense was really good; we were really relentless on the defensive end.”
Some numbers that should have pleased folks wearing Campbell County purple and gold: the Camels converted 12 Paris turnovers into 19 points, had 39 defensive stops to the Greyhounds’ 29, limited Paris to 19-of-56 shooting for 33%, and added 13 second-chance points to the Greyhounds’ seven.
“Second-chance points, that just means we killed them on the boards, both offensively and defensively,” Campbell County forward Aydan Hamilton said. “On defensive end, we just locked them down. We were physical with them, and they struggled to get to the hole to put the ball in the hole.”
Campbell County (22-11) had balanced scoring, too. Jake Gross led the Camels with 16 points, Hamilton was next with 13, Nathan Smith and Connor Weinel added 11 apiece.
The overriding concern Paris coach Shawn Ransom had – keeping Campbell County off the defensive boards – didn’t happen. The Camels out-rebounded the Greyhounds, 38-31; Gross and Jaidan Combs each grabbed six, and Hamilton added five.
What was more: Campbell County’s bench outscored Paris, 23-9.
“Those guys, they (are) battle-tested,” Ransom said. “They run a tough program. You can obviously tell they’ve been in the weight room.”
Hamilton opened the scoring with 7:43 to go when he faked out a Paris double-team and went untouched for a layup. Less than a minute later, Smith made one of two free throws.
Paris (17-14) tied the score at 3-3 a little more than a minute later on Jakari Ransom’s left-corner 3. It was the last time the Greyhounds were close – Campbell County finished the quarter on a 17-6 run.
Things substantially fell apart for the Greyhounds midway through the second stanza – Cordre Patterson drew a technical, the bench received a warning, and Ransom received his own technical. Gross hit two of the four free throws.
“I don’t really harp on calls … but I felt the technical foul (on Patterson) kind of took a little fire out of us,” Ransom said. “I don’t know what the referee was trying to do.”
“… I’m asking the guy why (Patterson) got the technical foul. He didn’t really tell me anything, you know what I mean?”
The rest of the quarter could be summarized in two phrases: runout layup or 3-pointers.
A little more than a minute after Gross’ free throws, Keegan Hill knocked down a 3 and Combs added a breakaway layup. Hill, Combs and Garyn Jackson added a bucket each, and Weinel canned a 3 at the buzzer.
The result: Campbell County, 42-20.
Next for the Camels: Mason County, a 107-56 running-clock winner over Nicholas County, in the semifinals at 6 p.m. Monday.
Mason County’s 107 points is second-most in regional tournament history (Montgomery County scored 109 in 1994), and the 51-point victory margin was the tournament’s second-widest. (Defending state champion George Rogers Clark dispatched Robertson County, 103-50, in last year’s first round.)
The Royals’ Braylon Hamilton led all scorers with 30 points. His 10 3-pointers broke the former school record nine by Robert Myrick in 2002.
Mason County squeezed by the Camels, 77-73, Jan. 10 in Alexandria. Hamilton scored 33 points that night;Terrell Henry led the Royals with 23 points that night, and Riley Mastin had 21 and nine rebounds.
PARIS 12 8 12 18 – 50
CAMPBELL CO. 20 22 30 11 – 83
Paris (50) — Alcorn 8, Ashford 21, Ransom 11, Bishop 2, Garr 4, Patterson 3, Blackwell 1. 3-Pt. FG: 4 (Ransom 2, Alcorn and Ashford). FT: 8-11. Rebounds: 31 (Murrell led with 5, and Blackwell had 4). Fouls: 9. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 12.
Campbell Co. (83) — Hill 7, Gross 16, Sorgenfrei 3, Jackson 9, Johnson 2, Crowley 2, Smith 11, Hamilton 13, Weinel 11, Combs 9. 3-Pt. FG: 9 (Smith 2, Gross 2, Hill, Sorgenfrei, Hamilton, Weinel). FT: 8-12. Rebounds 38 (Gross and Combs each had 6). Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None. Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: None.
