They said all week they weren’t approaching the game as an underdog.
Their poise and execution turned them into a winner.
Campbell County stunned Newport on Thursday night in the UK Healthcare KHSAA boys’ Sweet 16 state tournament at Rupp Arena in Lexington, 43-40.
The Camels stayed calm throughout, hit clutch free throws down the stretch and pulled out what pretty much anybody outside of southern Campbell County considered an upset.
“Like we’ve said before, ‘Just one more time.’ They’re good friends, they’ve played together for so long. Just get that one more practice, one more game,” Camels coach Brent Sowder said. “That’s motivation enough, this team just loves being around each other. There’s not much motivation besides the intrinsic motivation that they want to represent the community and they want to just play one more game together.”
They’ll live to play at least one more game, ending Newport’s 24-game winning streak entering Thursday night’s contest. The Camels stayed the course in the contest, grinding out possessions and forcing Newport into a jump shooting team.
“We treated every possession if they shot a jump shot that was a win of a possession for us,” Sowder said. “No North-South drives, wanted to keep them East-West. Guys did a great job forcing it out and fanning it out.”
A second quarter burst helped them prevail. The Camels held the Wildcats to four points and took a 24-14 lead into halftime. Newport went 6-of-21 shooting in the half.
“Just didn’t shoot the ball really well and the second quarter hurt us,” Wildcats coach Rod Snapp said. “Had a lot of good looks and kids were fighting and battling and doing whatever they could do.”
The misfortunes for the Wildcats came well before the game. They were up in the air on whether star guard Taylen Kinney was going to be available leading into the contest, dealing with a hamstring injury suffered in the first quarter of the 9th Region championship on March 12.
Kinney received treatment and was able to practice leading into Thursday’s contest, but came up limping midway through the second quarter after playing five minutes and coming off the bench.
“It was tough, these guys all get along and wanted him to play and be a part of it,” Snapp said. “We definitely game prepped as if he was going to come off the bench and play. Hamstring is just really nagging and hard to get through that in so short of time.”
The Wildcats fought back in the third, outscoring the Camels 18-8 to tie the game up at 32 headed into the fourth.
After Connor Weinel and Amontae Lowe traded baskets, the Camels went on a 5-0 spurt to take a 39-34 lead with 5:36 to play. A two-minute drought from both teams was then followed by four straight from Newport to make it a 39-38 game with 2:15 to play on a James Turner putback.
The Wildcats had two opportunities to take the lead from that point, but were unable to find the go-ahead basket.
“Just get a lead so we can spread them out and do what we well,” Snapp said. “Get up by one so we can spread them out. Came up short and hats off to Campbell County. They’re hot right now, they’re patient, they’re tough and played well.”
The Camels hit four free throws in the closing minute, Amontae Lowe’s 3-pointer coming up short in the closing seconds to tie the contest up.
Here the Camels are, nine days removed from being seconds away from being eliminated in the region championship and Garyn Jackson hitting a buzzer-beater, Campbell County is on to the quarterfinals of the state tournament.
“It’s been crazy, honestly,” Camels guard Garyn Jackson said. “There’s so many people that just come up to me and just telling me about the shot, then coming down here winning this state game. It feels amazing. I just can’t I can’t even imagine it.”
They’ll face Harlan County on Friday at 6 p.m. The Black Bears defeated Warren Central, 67-59 in a Friday first round matchup. Broc Sorgenfrei led the Camels with 12 points, Garyn Jackson finishing with 11. Weinel added nine points and 10 rebounds.
“I knew going into the game that we had to rebound and they had good rebounders,” Weinel said. “Just had to be solid in boxing out, rebound like I could and battle as hard as I could.”
Newport’s 32-4 season comes with a lot of milestones, but comes to an abrupt end on Thursday. They’ll graduate two seniors with DeShaun Jackson and Jabari Covington.
“I couldn’t ask for a better team,” Jackson said. “I wish I would have came here my freshman year. I just love all these guys, we all play hard, we all compete. I wouldn’t want to finish my senior year anywhere else.”
The future remains bright for Newport as they return six of their top eight for next season. Turner led the Wildcats with 14 points and grabbed five rebounds. Covington tallied 11 points and seven rebounds.
CAMELS 43, WILDCATS 40
NEWPORT — 10-4-18-8 — 40
CAMPBELL COUNTY — 11-13-8-11 — 43
Scoring
Newport (40) — Turner 14, Covington 11, Jackson 6, Anderson 5, Starks 2, Lowe 2
Campbell County (43) — Sorgenfrei 12, Jackson 11, Weinel 9, Fancher 5, Johnson 3, Smith 2, Franzen 1
Game Stats
Field Goals: Newport 18/49, Campbell 14/33
3-Pointers: Newport 2/12, Campbell 5/12
Free Throws: Newport 2/4, Campbell 10/14
Rebounds: Newport 27, Campbell 24
Assists: Newport 5, Campbell 6
Turnovers: Newport 4, Campbell 6
Steals: Newport 3, Campbell 1
Blocks: Newport 3, Campbell 1
Fouls: Newport 15, Campbell 8
Records: Newport 32-4, Campbell County 27-6
