A dream come true.
In an absolutely thrilling 10th Region Championship at Mason County on Tuesday night, Garyn Jackson sent Campbell County to the KHSAA Boys’ Basketball Sweet Sixteen with a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer, beating Harrison County 64-63 in overtime.
With 6.3 seconds remaining in overtime, Campbell County was in a timeout and as Camels coach Brent Sowder drew up the play for Jackson, he said a similar line to the Hoosiers Jimmy Chitwood’s, ‘I’ll make it.’
“I was going for that win” Jackson said, “In the huddle he was drawing up the play
and I said, ‘I’m hitting a three’ so that was crazy.’”
After an impressive win over George Rogers Clark on Monday night in stopping the four-time defending region champs, the Camels wanted things to continue.
“We’ve been listening to this stupid song called ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk.”
Sowder said, “We just want one more practice. We wanted one more win. As it turns
out, we needed one more shot to get that win.”
Campbell County looked comfortable at the beginning, especially Connor Weinel,
who finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.
“I had faith,” Weinel said. “I also had faith in our team. I wasn’t scared of anything. I
just wanted one more game with all my friends.”
At halftime the Camels were sitting comfortably ahead with a 36-27 lead. Harrison County responded by outscoring the Camels in both the third and fourth quarters.
With just a few seconds left, the Thorobreds had tied the game up at 57. Garyn
Jackson had an attempt to win the game in regulation, but it was just short.
In overtime, Campbell County found themselves down 62-59 with just under a
minute. Garyn Jackson scored the last five points, including the game winner for the
Camels’ first 10th Region Championship win since 2019.
“It’s a dream come true,” Connor Weinel said. “I’ve been dreaming of doing this for so
many years and now I have. It’s amazing.”
From 2014-19, Campbell County was the standard in the region with four region titles.
Garyn Jackson watched those as he had his older brother Kason in the program and it made him want his own even more.
“I’ve been dreaming of this since I was a little kid.” Jackson said, “My sixth-grade
year, I remember going to watch Campbell County play in the Final Four at the state
tournament and that’s when I realized I wanted to be one of those players going to
Rupp.”
Kason had a front row seat on hand Tuesday, the Camels official scorekeeper.
Sowder was an assistant coach on those championship teams under newly inducted 10th Region Hall of Fame coach Aric Russell.
He gets to hold up the championship trophy again, but this time as his first season as the head coach.
“Make no mistake, Aric Russell’s hands were all over that game.” Sowder said, “I
learned so much from that man. I saw all of these kids grow up since they were in
third grade when I was the JV coach and I’ve coached them a lot. There’s no other
group I wanted to take to Rupp than them.”
While Weinel and Jackson were huge for the Camels, Broc Sorgenfrei also had 13
points and Cole Johnson had nine.
Defensively, they held Harrison County’s star Kaydon Custard to 13 points. Custard
had 30-plus in the two previous region tournament games.
Elijah Harris led the Thorobreds with 22 points. Justin Craycraft had 10. Custard, Harris, and Braxton Grubb were named to the 10th Region All-Tournament team.
Harrison County’s season comes to an end at 17-15.
Weinel, Jackson and Sorgenfrei along with Xavier Fancher made the All-Tournament
team for Campbell County.
Campbell County is now just one of 16 remaining teams across the Bluegrass as they
move to 26-6. They will take on the winner of the Ninth Region, Newport, on March
21st at 8:30 p.m. at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
CAMELS 64, THOROBREDS 63 (OT)
CAMPBELL COUNTY — 13-23-14-7-7 — 64
HARRISON COUNTY —9-18-15-15-6 — 63
Scoring
Campbell County (64) — Weinel 26, Sorgenfrei 13, Johnson 9, Franzen 7, Jackson 6, Smith 4
Harrison County (63) — Harris 22, Custard 13, Craycraft 10, Smiley 7, Wilson 6, Grubb 5
Game Stats
Field Goals: Campbell County 25/48, Harrison County 22/43
3-Pointers: Campbell County 9/22, Harrison County 5/11
Free Throws: Campbell County 5/13, Harrison County 14/21
Rebounds: Campbell County 26, Harrison County 26
Assists: Campbell County 13, Harrison County 9
Turnovers: Campbell County 8, Harrison County 7
Steals: Campbell County 6, Harrison County 8
Blocks: Campbell County 0, Harrison County 0
Fouls: Campbell County 17, Harrison County 14
Records: Campbell County 26-6, Harrison County 17-15