Sweet Sixteen contender survives rival’s big blocker to clinch first semifinal trip
Campbell County saw a lot of its shots get swatted Friday afternoon, but it made enough to survive at the state tournament.
The Camels defeated northern Kentucky rival Walton-Verona, 49-42, to advance in the 102nd Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Boys’ Sweet Sixteen. Campbell County will make its first appearance in the state semifinals.
BOX SCORE: Campbell County 49, Walton-Verona 42
Walton-Verona and star center Dieonte Miles tried their best to make that distinction their own after making the quarterfinals for the first time. Miles, a 6-foot-10 senior who’s signed with Xavier University, had what is believed to be a single-game Sweet Sixteen record with 12 blocked shots, seven in the first half.
Miles finished with 10 points to lead the Bearcats, but was only 4-for-10 from the floor. Campbell’s Tanner Lawrence drew the assignment of guarding Miles most of the afternoon.
“We’ve got a tight end playing for us on the basketball court and he uses every bit of his frame to play physical,” Camels Coach Aric Russell said of Lawrence, also a star for his school’s football team. “We know (Miles) likes to go for that left play over that other shoulder and that’s where we were playing him. We tried to bring a trap that way, and when we did we got a few steals out of it.”
Both teams converted only 15 field goals. Walton-Verona actually shot better than the Camels, 42.9 percent (35 attempts) to 34.9 percent (43 attempts), but went just 8-for-15 from the free-throw line while Campbell connected on 14 of 17 tries.
Campbell County also won the rebounding battle, 29-24, and gave up only three offensive boards.
“We held ’em to one shot pretty much the whole night and that was key as well,” Russell said.
Walton-Verona trailed 43-39 with 2:30 to play but over the next 1:56 was only able to score a point. Campbell ran nearly a minute off the clock before the Bearcats were able to foul enough times to get the Camels into the bonus.
The bigger court at Rupp Arena played a role in the time winding down, Walton-Verona Coach Grant Brannen said.
“We had to close a little bit earlier and we just didn’t get to the spots,” Brannen said. “It’s just one of those things that didn’t work out. We were trying, but they do a great job of spacing out the floor, and when you go 10 feet longer it’s a little different than high school.”
Reid Jolly had 13 points and 12 rebounds to lead Campbell County. Jolly, also a football player, has not committed to play either sport in college yet but is leaning toward basketball.
“I think some teams would be really happy if they could land him to play some basketball,” Russell said. “He does so much, and for a kid his size and strength to be able to handle the ball the way he does and shoot it the way he does, there’s some teams missing out.”
This story was originally published March 8, 2019 at 1:38 PM.
