Midway through the season, Lloyd Memorial is showing why they are one of the
legitimate threats among Northern Kentucky teams.
This time it was done with a home victory over Campbell County, 60-46, the
Juggernauts sixth straight win.
On offense, Lloyd was able to respond to Campbell County’s zone by stretching the
floor, resulting in open looks.
Elijah Collins and EJ Walker opened up the offense by playing off each other. Collins
with 20 points and six 3-pointers and Walker dominating the paint and finishing with 19.
“It helps a lot because we can use a ball screen to his (Collins) side so there’s no help or post up on his side so there’s no help. It’s either one-on-one or a three. It really opens it up for everybody, not just me. Going strong to the rim also opens up the shooters. I can
kick it out to a shooter or finish it,” Walker said.
Collins literally shot the Camels out of their zone defense with four first half triples.
“Everytime EJ gets the ball, they’re doubling, they’re sending triple teams. We’ve got
players everywhere,” Collins said. “Seven deep. Everybody can score, play defense, and everybody plays hard. And the thing with EJ is he’s not selfish. He’s not going to force it. He finds us and we knock down the shots. When I’m on my game and my
teammates find me and I’m hitting, we get going.” Elijah said.
The Camels led 16-15 after one, but the lid came on the basket in a rough second quarter in which they tallied just six points and found themselves down 30-22 at half.
“The possessions in the second quarter were one pass and a three,” Camels coach Brent Sowder said. “That’s when you’re panicking and not trusting the offense or trusting each other enough. This is a group that trusts each other and loves each other so that was out of character for us.”
Campbell County fought back to cut the deficit to two near the end of the third, but Lloyd didn’t let the momentum swing. The Juggernauts answered, bringing the lead back up to eight quickly.
“We’ve been in close games all year. Our schedule’s been hard, we’ve been in
overtimes, been down. The guys don’t really panic. I probably do more panicking than the players do. They fought, listened, kept composure. I told them they’re going to on runs. Limit their runs and extend ours. They went on a run in that third quarter and probably outscored us, but we ended up limiting it,” Juggernaut head coach Michael Walker said.
Still with hope and down only four to start the fourth, the Camels were unable to get much momentum back in the final frame.
“These recent games, we’ve had lulls of three or four minutes where we don’t score
enough. I really trust our defense. We get after it defensively, but we have to fix
these lulls. That’s not on the kids, that’s on the coaches,” Sowder said.
Broc Sorgenfrei led Campbell with 12 points and Cole Johnson added 10.
The Camels were without a starter in Nate Smith and played two solid opponents in
two days, coming off a loss to Mason County the night before, their first two-game losing streak of the season.
“I’m excited to see the bounce back in us because I know the character of the group I
have,” Sowder said. “This is an opportunity to bounce back for them and I told them I’m hyped for the next practice. There are very clear things we need to work on, and we will. We will get ready for Harrison County on Friday. We’re road warriors this week and
have to conquer a bus ride so hopefully it’s Friday.”
The Juggernauts face Scott on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
“We’re getting there. I don’t want to peak too early, but we’re slowly going in the right direction,” Mike Walker said. “We know that if we keep getting better and better every day
and we’ll be where we want to become district time.”
Juggernauts 60, Camels 46
CAMPBELL COUNTY — 16-6-16-8 — 46
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 15-15-12-18 — 60
Scoring
Campbell County (46) — Sorgenfrei 12, Johnson 11, Weinel 7, Fancher 6, Jackson 6,
Franzen 2, Johnson 2
Lloyd Memorial (60) — Collins 20 (6 3P), Walker 19, Sebastian 9, Blaackar 6, Bresser
3, Copeland 3
Game Stats
3-Pointers Made: Campbell County 4, Lloyd Memorial 7
Free Throws: Campbell County 11/18, Lloyd Memorial 9/12
Fouls: Campbell County 12, Lloyd Memorial 12
Records: Campbell County 11-4, Lloyd Memorial 11-4