By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
LEXINGTON — Campbell County boys basketball coach Aric Russell’s son is one of four seniors on the team that won the first state tournament game in the history of the program on Thursday at Rupp Arena.
During the press conference following Campbell County’s 82-65 win over University Heights in the first round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16, the coach said his long association with those seniors added to the excitement of the long-awaited victory.
Campbell County senior guard Tanner Clos drives past Drew McGowan of University Heights during Thursday’s first-round game in the state tournament. (Photo by Ted Jackson)
“It’s so special to be here with these guys,” Russell said. “I’ve seen these kids from the time they started basketball because my son is their age. I’ve been a part of bringing them up through the game, and it’s so special to see this is the team that finally got the monkey off our back.”
Two of the seniors, Joel Day and Tanner Clos, were the offensive leaders for the Camels (29-5), who will face Oldham County (30-5) in a quarterfinal game at 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Day scored a team-high 23 points with seven assists. Clos posted a double-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. In the second half, they provided 30 of their team’s 49 points.
The two juniors in Campbell County’s lineup also played well in their state tournament debut. Reid Jolly, a 6-foot-4 forward, finished with 20 points and nine rebounds while guard Drew Wilson netted 11 points.
Balanced scoring made the Camels tough to beat all season and they showed why before a state tournament crowd of more than 10,600 fans that attended Thursday afternoon’s two-game session.
“Before the game started, in the locker room I said, ‘Everything we’ve done all year we’ve done together and don’t change now,’” coach Russell said. “We don’t play hero ball. We don’t have one guy who can just take over. We have to have all five guys on the floor do what they do for us to be successful.”
University Heights junior guard KyKy Tandy finished with a game-high 31 points, but he was limited to one field goal and two free throws in the third quarter when the Camels surged into the lead with a decisive 28-16 scoring run.
Tandy was guarded by the coach’s son, Jesse Russell, and senior Nate Schaefer for most of the game.
Senior guard Joel Day had 23 points and seven assists for the Camels in his state tournament debut. (Photo by Ted Jackson)
“He’s a great player,” Clos said of Tandy. “He can shoot from anywhere with anyone in his face. So I feel like we did a really good job containing him with what Jesse and Nate did. You couldn’t ask for any better job with the caliber of player he is.”
University Heights shot 53 percent from the field in the first quarter to open up a 22-16 lead and extended it to 29-22 when junior forward Taquan Hollowell buried the team’s fifth 3-pointer with 5:10 left in the second quarter.
But the Camels closed the half with an 11-2 run, getting all five of their baskets in the paint. The last one came on a low-post pass to Jolly, who finished the first half with a team-high 13 points.
Tandy was the game’s leading scorer at halftime with 14 points. He made his first five shots, including two 3-pointers, but he went 1-for-3 after that and the Blazers faltered without his scoring.
Campbell County’s decision to switch from zone to man-to-man defense had an impact on Tandy’s effectiveness.
“They switched to man and that started to take KyKy more and more out of the game,” said
University Heights coach Grant Shouse. “We kind of bogged down our offense. We didn’t get into many of our sets and really move the ball and started taking some bad shots.”
Campbell County scored on 14 of its 16 offensive possessions in the third quarter to open up a 61-47 lead. During the team’s 28-16 run, Day scored 10 points and Clos got eight.
On the last play of the period, Day came up with a loose ball and fired it to Schaefer for a layup that gave the Camels a 14-point advantage (61-47) going into the fourth quarter.
Reid Jolly scored 13 of his 20 points in the first half for the Camels. (Photo by Ted Jackson)
University of Heights pulled to within eight points three times during the final period, but the Camels never buckled and hit the free throws they needed to win. Wilson scored seven points in the final six minutes to help secure the victory and became his team’s fourth double-figure scorer.
“It’s really special, I mean no one else in the school’s done it,” Day said of the state tournament victory. “I guess we’re considered the best team (from our school) to come here now, so we can brag on that. But we’re not done yet. We have three more games to win.”
Campbell County had an 0-5 record in boys state tournament games before Thursday’s win. Russell coached the last two teams that lost first-round games in 2014 and 2015.
The Camels ended up shooting 50.9 percent (27 of 53) from the field compared to the Blazers’ 40.3 percent (25 of 62). Campbell County won the battle of the boards by a 39-30 margin and scored 14 second chance points after getting rebounds under their own basket.
“That’s what we’d been preaching this whole week in practice — if we can win the rebounding battle we’ll win the game,” said Clos, the rebound leader. “So that means we had to work hard. You know, put a butt on somebody and clear the boards. I just did my best and got it done.”
CAMPBELL COUNTY 16 17 28 21 — 82
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 22 9 16 18 — 65
CAMPBELL COUNTY (29-5): Jolly 7 5 20, Russell 1 0 2, Wilson 3 4 11, Clos 8 5 21, Day 6 9 23, Schaefer 2 0 4. Wirth 0 1 1. Totals: 27 24 82.
UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS (23-8): Lovan 4 3 11, Hollowell 5 0 11, McGowan 3 0 8, Tandy 11 6 31. Does 1 0 2, Quarles 1 0 2. Totals: 25 9 65.
3-pointers: CC — Day 2, Jolly, Wilson, UH — Tandy 3, McGowan 2, Hollowell,
