Brent Sowder gave credit to the Campbell County football team after the Camels victory on the basketball court Saturday night over Bishop Brossart.
Wait? Football? That ended over a month ago for the Camels.
Sowder pointed to the physical presence they present, thanks to a couple of football players and guys getting after it in the weight room. In the end, it was the Camels physicality that punished the Mustangs for a 78-47 victory at Campbell County Middle School in the Crosstown Shootout.
“I got to give credit to football. Our football program works so hard in the weight room and we got so many guys that do both,” Sowder said. “They come in yoked. Then our other guys come in, they see them like that, so they want to get after it. So it kind of just something they both work at.”
The Camels led wire-to-wire and left no doubt. Even Brossart coach agreed that the physical nature the Camels presented was the downfall in this one. It’s a tough matchup for a team that has just five upperclassmen and not a senior on the roster.
“We knew coming in that was going to be a problem for us,” Franzen said. “They’re very physical. They’re physically bigger and more mature and that was challenge and it proved to be a big challenge.”
Campbell County (4-1) had five reach double figures, led by Garyn Jackson and Broc Sorgenfrei with 16 points apiece. Connor Weinel had 15 points, all in the first half while William Johnson added 11, Nathan Smith chipping in 10.
“We always just play as a team and share the ball,” Weinel said. “We always play together and we don’t care who scores any given night. We just all want to win and get the W on the scoreboard.”
Sorgenfrei’s 3-point shooting helped stretch the Mustangs zone early, knocking down four triples in the first half.
“Broc, we call him Brockstar because he waits for the big moments. The way he can shoot the three makes us really excited,” Sowder said.
Jackson’s penetration opened up shots for Sorgenfrei and others as they hit 10 three-pointers on the evening. His defensive ball pressure caused problems for the Mustangs, most notably by his steal and triple fading away out of bounds before the halftime horn to give them a 45-25 lead at the break.
“That was crazy,” Jackson said. “I was just trying to steal the ball and get a layup. I didn’t think about being way in the corner and having to shoot the ball over the backboard. That was crazy.”
Jackson added 10 assists and five steals in the victory.
The Mustangs glimmer of hope came minutes prior to that when Parker Mulberry hit his fourth triple of the first half and Ben Doyle followed with a layup to turn a 15-point deficit into a 27-18 game.
But turnovers aided a Camels 18-7 run to halftime, getting the advantage to 20 by the break.
“It seemed like we had it within striking range and then what felt like a knockout punch,” Franzen said. “That came from being undisciplined offensively and not adjusting to that quickly enough.”
The Camels opened the second half on a 18-4 run as they flirted with getting the game to a running clock after a Smith triple to make it 63-29.
Brossart showed some pride from there to keep it under the mandatory running clock number of 35, but would get no closer than 27 the rest of the way.
Mulberry led the Mustangs with 17 points, Beckett Kuntz following with 13, all of them coming in the second half. The loss drops Brossart to 3-3. They’ll face Pendleton County on Wednesday in Falmouth at 7:30 p.m.
The Camels will look to go 2-0 in district play when they play at Calvary Christian on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
CAMELS 78, MUSTANGS 47
BISHOP BROSSART — 7-18-11-11 — 47
CAMPBELL COUNTY — 15-30-20-13 — 78
Scoring
Brossart (47) — Mulberry 17, Kuntz 13, Hadden 6, Combs 5, Boruske 3, Doyle 2, Cozzi 1
Campbell (78) — Jackson 16, Sorgenfrei 16, Weinel 15, Johnson 11, Smith 10, Crowley 4, Fancher 4, Franzen 2
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Bishop Brossart 8, Campbell County 10
Free Throws: Bishop Brossart 7/17, Campbell County 4/12
Fouls: Bishop Brossart 8, Campbell County 16
Records: Bishop Brossart (3-3, 1-1), Campbell County (4-1, 1-0)