In what was supposed to be the marquee 10th Region boys basketball quarterfinal matchup, it turned out like all the others.
A blowout victory.
Campbell County advanced to Monday’s semifinals with a 85-56 victory over Nicholas County on Thursday night at the Mason County Fieldhouse.
The two met nearly three weeks ago to the day, a 90-89 Camels victory in overtime where they had to come back late. Thursday night was a much different story.
“We’ve been playing a lot better defensively as a team since then,” Camels coach Brent Sowder said. “That was kind of our low point as a team defensively in that first matchup. We watched the film. The kids watch the film and they were embarrassed. So they came out and were determined to do a lot better defensively and they did.”
The Camels got four players in double figures, knocked down 10 three-pointers and had a wide array of dunks to send the highlights out. But it was a dunk on the other end from a Nicholas County player that turned the game around.
When Braxton Martin’s putback, one-handed dunk sent the crowd in a frenzy with oo’s and ah’s, it trimmed Campbell County’s lead to 15-13 early in the second quarter.
It didn’t faze Campbell County one bit. They responded with a 19-4 run and continued to take off from there. They led 41-24 at the half, 65-37 after three and led by as much as 32 in the runaway victory.
“I was proud of how our guys responded,” Sowder said. “That was a sick dunk, but we turned right back aroud and scored right away. We’ve grown up a lot where that may not have happened earlier in the year, but shows that we’ve grown up and matured.”
About the most entertaining part of the second half was when reserves came in late in the game and the Camels cheering section went crazy when reserve Scott Thacker got himself a bucket, just his third and fourth points of the season. Things got even louder in the entire gym when Nicholas County seventh grader Griffin Harmon, maybe hitting 5-feet tall on a good day, drained a 25-footer in the closing minute.
Camels’ Austin Davie finished with 23 points, five rebounds and three steals, drawing eight fouls and hitting all eight of his free throw attempts.
“Really wanted to get downhill tonight,” Davie said. “See what’s open and kick it. We were hot from three so that helped.”
Lucas Anthrop knocked down five triples in the Camels 3-point barrage on his way to 17 points.
“Love playing here,” Anthrop said. “Atmosphere is always awesome here, the rims are good. We just love playing here.”
That’s the consensus for the Camels, they like playing at The Fieldhouse and they’ll take on anyone there. Now they get to play the role of underdogs, yes the program that has five region titles since 2014 will be overlooked as echoes of a George Rogers Clark-Montgomery County region championship matchup were talked about through the gym.
“That game Monday is kind of old school versus new school,” Sowder said. “We’re kind of an old school program. I mean, we’ve got our kids coming up. They’re kind of a new school program where they’ve accumulated some really great players. They’re a really good team, Coach High does a great job and we’ll have to be ready to battle.”
Can the Camels throw a wrench in those plans? The task will be tall. They lost to Montgomery County on Jan. 23, 78-66, and that was without Indians standout sophomore Austin Sears in the contest. But if Thursday night was any indicator, the previous matchup does not matter right now.
“We were in the game ’til late and they pushed it out at the end,” Sowder said.
After Davie’s 23 and Anthrop’s 17, Elliot Eaton added 11 points, Braden Elam with 10 and four blocked shots, providing strong resistance against a big Bluejackets front line.
Nicholas County experienced one of their better seasons in decades, winning an All “A” regional title and hitting the 20-win mark. They were paced by Martin’s 17 points, Peyton Hatton adding 15.
Campbell County’s contest with Montgomery County will come 25 minutes after the first semifinal contest between Scott and George Rogers Clark, scheduled for a 6 p.m. tip.
Winners will then head to Tuesday’s championship.
In the four quarterfinal matchups in the 10th Region, the average margin of victory was 37.5 points.
PHOTOS: Slideshow provided by Charles Bolton
CAMELS 85, BLUEJACKETS 56
NICHOLAS COUNTY — 11-13-13-19 — 56
CAMPBELL COUNTY — 15-26-24-20 — 85
Scoring
Nicholas (56) — Martin 17, Hatton 15, Smith 8, Blake 6, Swanner 4, True 3, Harmon 3
Campbell (85) — Davie 23, L. Anthrop 17, Eaton 11, Elam 10, C. Anthrop 6, Norwell 5, Ballinger 4, Guy 3, Riedinger 2, Seibert 2, Thacker 2
Game Stats
Field Goals: Nicholas County 20/56, Campbell County 31/58
3-Pointers: Nicholas County 5/20, Campbell County 10/27
Free Throws: Nicholas County 11/18, Campbell County 13/17
Rebounds: Nicholas County 36, Campbell County 33
Assists: Nicholas County 5, Campbell County 17
Turnovers: Nicholas County 12, Campbell County 6
Steals: Nicholas County 5, Campbell County 11
Blocked Shots: Nicholas County 0, Campbell County 6
Fouls: Nicholas County 16, Campbell County 16
Records: Nicholas County 20-13, Campbell County 22-9