By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
An assistant basketball coach from the University of Iowa came to Lloyd’s home game Wednesday night to keep tabs on junior EJ Walker, one of the state’s top college prospects in the class of 2025.
The recruiter watched the 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward score 19 points and dominate the paint on defense. But Walker wasn’t the only reason Lloyd defeated Campbell County, 60-46, to extend its winning streak to six games.
Junior guard Elijah Collins made six 3-point shots and scored a season-high 20 points for the 11-4 Juggernauts, who have several offensive weapons among the five underclassmen in their starting lineup.
“He’s kind of been in a slump the last three of four games,” Lloyd coach Michael Walker said of Collins. “To keep him confident, I told him to just keep shooting it’s going to fall, and tonight it fell.”
“Everybody’s so worried about EJ, but I’ve got other good basketball players on this team, so at some point you have to respect those guys, too,” the coach added.
Lloyd shot 51.1 percent (22 of 43) from the field with the inside-outside combination of Walker and Collins getting 14 of the team’s 22 field goals.
Campbell County ended up shooting just 28.8 percent (15 of 52) from the field, mainly due to a woeful second quarter when the Camels went 2-of-14.
“The recent few games we’ve just had lulls of three or four minutes where we don’t score,” Campbell County coach Brent Sowder said after the second straight loss that dropped his team’s record to 11-4.
“If you saw those possessions in the second quarter it was like one pass and then (put up) a three,” Sowder said. “That’s when you’re panicking and not trusting your offense or not trusting each other maybe enough. And this is a group that trusts each other and loves each other, so that’s out of character for us.”
Despite that scoring slump and Collins making four 3-point goals in the first half, Lloyd had a modest 30-22 lead at the break.
Campbell County cut the margin to 36-34 on a driving basket by senior Broc Sorgenfrei, but the third quarter ended with the home team on top, 42-38.
Collins made his sixth trey early in the fourth quarter to spark a 10-1 run that clinched the win for the Juggernauts. The run ended with a slam dunk by Walker that put the Juggernauts ahead, 58-43, with 1:35 left on the clock.
“My teammates were just finding me in my spot and I was getting open looks,” Collins said of his impressive 20-point performance. “Once me and some of my teammates start hitting shots, it opens everything up (on offense). I don’t think anybody can beat us then.”
The leading scorers for Campbell County were Sorgenfrei with 12 points and Garyn Jackson with 10. It was the third time in the last six games the Camels were held to less than 50 points and they lost two of them.
“Watching them on film, we knew they hit the glass hard,” coach Walker said of the Camels. “So we knew if we contain them (to one shot), get the rebound and push it hard, we had a shot (to win).”
CAMPBELL COUNTY 16 6 16 8 — 46
LLOYD 15 15 12 18 — 60
CAMPBELL COUNTY (11-4): Jackson 4 2 10, Weinel 2 1 7, Johnson 3 2 9, Sorgenfrei 4 3 12, Franzen 0 2 2, Fancher 2 1 6. Totals: 15 11 46.
LLOYD (11-4): Blaackar 2 2 6, Collins 7 0 20, Walker 7 5 19, Bresser 4 1 9, Copeland 1 1 3. Totals: 22 9 60.
Three-point goals: CC — Weinel 2, Johnson, Sorgenfrei, Fancher. L — Collins 6, Bresser.