article 10th Region Tournament Wrap-up and a Look at the Campbell County Camels

Last week's 10th region tournament at the Mason County Fieldhouse didn't disappoint. Buzzer-beaters, buzzer-tiers, and the best two teams in the region battling it out in the finals. Here's a brief recap:

Campbell County 74, Robertson County 55 (upper bracket quarterfinals). The Camels broke open a tight game with a big second quarter to dispatch the young (no seniors) Black Devils. Reid Jolly and Drew Wilson combined for 50 points in this one; and sixth man Andrew Helton chipped in with 8, including a pair of threes. Campbell County dominated the boards by ten, 29-19. The Devils ended the season at a respectable 22-9; and were led in scoring by big man Alex Schalch with 21.

Mason County 67, Bourbon County 66 (upper bracket quarterfinals). Mason County led the game for most of the contest on the strength of five first-quarter threes; but the Colonels' relentless pressure forced several turnovers and gave them the lead at 66-64 with less than 15 seconds to go. Jaylen Lofton found Braden May in the corner on a designed play and May's triple found nothing but net as time expired. It took the final shot, a career game from Jake Swolsky and 65% shooting for the game for the Royals to overcome a rash of turnovers in this one. Bone and Scrap Joyce led Bourbon with a combined 30 points; with Jace Wallace and CaMarr Myers also reaching double figures.

Scott 58, Harrison County 52 (lower bracket quarterfinals). Even with Spencer Free (who had scored an eye-popping 40 in the regular season matchup) saddled with foul trouble, the Thorobreds hung around until the final seconds in this one. Scott's trio of Chad Ohmer, Trey Meister and Nathan Joyce pitched in 19, 14 and 14 respectively; while Thomas Thompson and Quenton Turley helped keep the 'breds in it the entire way (had a three-pointer with three seconds left connected, who knows).

Clark County 81, Bracken County 44 (lower bracket quarterfinals). This one, as expected, was never close; with the bigger Cardinals outrebounding the Polar Bears 44-27. Brennan Canada notched a 23/10 double-double and reserves Jerone Morton and Lincoln Bush added 15 and 10; while Collin Jefferson, Kason Hinson and Jhace Cummins reached double figures for Bracken County.

Campbell County 74, Mason County 51 (upper bracket semifinals). The Camels raced out to a commanding 23-11 lead after the first quarter and never looked back; connecting on an astonishing 29-40 (72.5%) shots from the field. With Reid Jolly in a spot of foul trouble in the second quarter, Wilson, Noah Wirth, Helton and Jordan Gross picked up the slack; with Wilson scoring 22 and Jolly having a big second half and tallying 18. The Royals were paced by Jaylen Lofton and Xylon Frey with 16 and 14.

Clark County 60, Scott 57 (OT), (lower bracket semifinals). After fighting from behind virtually the entire game, GRC took their first lead with three and a half minutes to play; with the lead seesawing the rest of the regulation. A pair of Jordan Graham charity tosses gave the Cardinals the lead at 53-50, but Chad Ohmer connected on a bomb (this observer says 32 feet; Parker said 35 in the update but he's a kid and prone to hyperbole) to send the game into overtime. Scott had a chance to win in regulation after a Graham travel but was unable to connect at the buzzer. Scott had another chance near the end of the extra stanza, but Trey Meister's attempt drew iron and the Cards hit a pair of freebies with less than a second to put the game out of reach. Clark got balanced scoring from Graham (15), 15), Jared Wellman (14), Canada (10) and Bush (9, with a dozen boards). Scott was led by Nathan Joyce (deadly when the jumper from the free-throw line was available) and David Hunter with 19 and 12.

Campbell County 61, Clark County 49 (final). Trailing 39-38 at the end of three quarters, the Camels finally wore the Cardinals down behind pinpoint three-point shooting by Drew Wilson (15 points, 5-7 from distance) and a typical 22-point, 13-rebound Reid Jolly performance. Tanner Lawrence's 10-point performance in the paint was crucial as well; and in one of those statistical oddities, all of the Camels' points were notched by starters. Senior point guard Jordan Graham led GRC with 17 points. Campbell won just about every statistical category in this one - rebounds (34-30), free throws (15-20; 10-14), three pointers (8-19; 3-10), turnovers (8-14) and assists (7-3).

10th Region Champion Campbell County Camels

Overall record 29-4

10th region record 15-0

37th district champs, 5-0 in district

Head Coach - Aric Russell, 9th season at Campbell County; 7 district titles, 4 region titles, 204-86 overall record.

Coach Russell's Camels have been a model of consistency; particularly over the course of the past six years; garnering four tenth region titles and a 153-47 mark. Of their four losses this season; three have been to Kentucky teams by a combined nine points; all on the road; with the largest margin of defeat a 6-pointer at 8th region champion Walton-Verona. Campbell County enters the Sweet Sixteen on a sixteen-game run; with postseason wins over Bishop Brossart and Scott in the 37th District tournament; and Robertson County, Mason County and Clark County last week at the Fieldhouse. The Camels completed their second straight 15-0 run through the region this season; and even if the tenth has been just a bit down recently, that's strong in any region. Campbell's last defeat to a regional opponent was by a point to Scott and the Jake in the finals of the 2017 regional tournament. And here's the factoid of the day. Campbell's last regular-season loss to a 10th region opponent was - courtesy of one Randy Parker - on December 6, 2016 to...

...Bracken County behind a 32-point effort from Austin Crawford.

The Camels are solid in just about every facet of the game. They're tournament-tested and play a robust "northern Kentucky-oriented" schedule, scheduling the likes of Cooper, Walton-Verona, Beechwood, and Simon Kenton; and participated in this year's Central Bank Classic at Lexington Christian; falling only to the host school by a bucket in the tourney. They're perhaps the best shooting squad in the tenth. They shoot nearly 55% from the field, including a respectable 37% from three-point land and 71% from the line. They will reach the 1,000 rebound mark in their first-round game against John Hardin. They're difficult to turn over. They play with intensity all game, every game. In a casual conversation with Robertson County Coach Patrick Kelsch while watching Campbell in the regional semis; I remarked that his team had stayed with the Camels for 26 of the 32 minutes. His instant reply - that's why Campbell is so good. They play for 32.

Senior post man Reid Jolly; once UK commit Dontaie Allen from Pendleton County went down with a knee injury in December; became the de facto player of the year in the tenth, and he didn't disappoint. The football-roundball dual sport star averaged 22.7 points and 10 boards per game; shooting nearly 65% from the field. Not to be discounted is the fact that Jolly is also the team's leading three-point shooter at nearly 46%, and can effectively handle the ball against the press.

Senior guard Drew Wilson isn't far behind at 18.2 points per game; and connects at an impressive 56% from the field; including 51-126 from beyond the arc (40.5%). His 5-7 performance against GRC in the regional final was a typical big-game showing by Wilson.

The rest of the starting five are senior forward Tanner Lawrence (9.3/5.0, 66%), senior forward Noah Wirth (6.5/3.7) and junior guard Jordan Gross (5.1/3.2). Sixth man Andrew Helton gives us the statistical outlier of this recap. At 3.5 points per game; he has scored 110 points on the season. Of those 110, only one has been from the line.

The Camels received what would be considered by most to be a tough draw in the Sweet 16. Their first-round foe is the Commonwealth's only undefeated squad - John Hardin from the 5th region. Of some interest here is that 37th district foe Scott played John tough (67-56, 72-69; Campbell's victories over Scott were 74-68 and 61-52) in a pair of regular-season contests. Should the Camels get by the Bulldogs; possible quarterfinal and semifinal foes are Walton-Verona and Trinity. But don't count out the senior-led Camels. The first-rounder should be one of the better games at Rupp; and given a break or two, Campbell can make some real noise this week.

Excellent work, Pops! :thumb:

You are the man @mcpapa. Words can't express how much I appreciate all the work you have done to give us the weekly updates of the 10th region. We are blessed to have you.

Best of Luck to the Camels as they represent us at the state tourney. I will be there supporting you.

You are the man @mcpapa. Words can't express how much I appreciate all the work you have done to give us the weekly updates of the 10th region. We are blessed to have you.

 

Best of Luck to the Camels as they represent us at the state tourney. I will be there supporting you.

Much appreciated. As you know from our conversation on Friday evening; I am hoping that the 10th region reporting responsibilities can eventually be assumed by a young, energetic reporter. This old body's been through the mill.

But it's been a blast. There's something special about tenth region hoops!