By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
Interesting matchup at Campbell County Wednesday evening. The host Camels (13-5), the No. 2 team in the 10th Region, faced off against a 15-3 Covington Catholic team, No. 2 in the Ninth Region.
Even with CovCath’s leading scorer, Athens McGillis with his 21.1 points-per-game average out sick, this had all the makings of a good one.
Being shorthanded certainly didn’t seem a problem for the visiting Colonels the first quarter as they jumped out to an 11-2 lead and finished the period leading 16-11.
“And then we calmed down,” Camels’ coach Brent Sowder said.
Call it “calming down” if you will. But over the next 14½ minutes, “the Fighting Camels” as they like to call them here in this pastoral spot between Alexandria and Grants Lick, outscored CovCath by an incredible 50-20. You read that right – outscored the Top-10-in-Kentucky Colonels, who play everybody tough, by 30 on the way to an eventual 68-48 romp.
And they did it with do-everything senior Garyn Jackson and his freshman sidekick, Austin Davie, leading the way. Jackson, the all-purpose point guard who can score it, pass it, rebound it, defend against it and do whatever the Camels need him to do, you might expect.
“I’ve run out of adjectives for him,” Sowder says of his team leader. “He’s unbelievable. He’s 6-feet tall but he plays 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. I tell him I’m treating him like a football coach. I’m giving you the keys to the offense. Make something happen.”
Indeed. Jackson led the Camels in assists with five, steals with six, scored 15 points, second on the team, and with nine rebounds, also tied for second most.
The player Jackson tied for the rebound lead and the man he trailed in scoring was 6-4 freshman Austin Davie, who doesn’t play at all like a freshman, who was one rebound short of his goal of a double-double – 22 points with nine rebounds.
So when did Davie realize he could play – and play like he belonged – at the varsity level as a freshman?
Well, he says with a little smile, “The first game of the season, I scored 26 against Dixie Heights.” Oh. Well OK then.
From that point, Austin just kept going, averaging 18.1 points a game and 7.2 rebounds coming into this one. “I come into every game and play it like its my last,” he says, not at all sounding like a freshman.
And he doesn’t at all mind if opponents know he’s a freshman. “I use it to my advantage,” Austin says.
“If there’s somebody better out there as a freshman . . . “Sowder just shakes his head at the thought of it.
They’re not alone. Senior Xavier Fancher is averaging 11.1 ppg and had 15 points in this one, many on runouts in the final quarter that broke CovCath from any thought of coming back.
“It was just effort,” Jackson said. “When we got down, we stepped up. We turned our defense into offense. We knew if we slowed them down, we could do that. This was huge for us, not so long after our two losses (in the last eight days).”
It was huge for Sowder. “We have so much respect for that (CovCath) program.” And his players prepared like they understood it. “We had two great days of practice,” Sowder said. “We’re a team, if we can get it, we can go.”
In many ways, the Camels did to CovCath what the Colonels so often do to their opponents with all-court pressure setting up their transition offense.
For a CovCath team that turned the ball over 18 times and was outrebounded 35-27 and outshot 52.8 percent (28 of 53) from the field to 38.2 percent (21 of 55), the Colonels weren’t competitive starting the final 3:00 of the first half.
Only Cash Harney, with 12 points, and Nolan Ruthsatz, with nine rebounds, had much success. And that wasn’t anywhere near enough.
SCORING SUMMARY
Covington Catholic 16 12 9 11—48
Campbell County 11 25 18 14—68
COVCATH (15-5): Gaiser 1/5 1/5 0/0 0/0 2, Harney 5/14 5/11 0/3 2/4 12, Stewart 0/5 0/4 0/1 0/0 0, Schreiber 0/1 0/0 0/1 0/0 0 0, Bradshaw 3/4 3/4 0/0 0/0 6, Stava 2/6 1/3 1/3 0/0 5, Kruer 3/4 2/3 1/1 0/0 7, Whelan 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0, Link 1/1 1/1 0/0 0/0 2, Ruthsatz 2/6 2/5 0/1 0/0 4, Myers 2/3 2/2 0/1 0/0 4, Lanham 2/6 1/1 1/5 1/2 6; TOTALS 21/55 18/39 3/16 3/6 48.
Total FG 1st Half 12/27 44.4% 2nd Half 9/28 32.1% Game 21/55 38.2% 3 PT FG 1st Half 2/6 33.3% 2nd Half 1/10 10.0% Game 3/16 18.8% Free Throws 1st Half 2/4 50.0% 2nd Half 1/2 50.0% Game 3/6 50.0%.
CAMPBELL COUNTY (14-5): Augsback 0/0 0/0 0/0 0/0 0, Franzen 3/4 3/4 0/0 0/0 6, Davie 10/16 9/14 1/2 1/3 22, Fancher 6/16 5/10 1/6 2/2 15, Jackson 6/11 5/8 1/3 2/2 15, Dowds 1/1 0/0 1/1 0/0 3 0, L. Anthrop 2/3 0/0 2/3 0/0 6 0 3 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 23:20 24 C. Anthrop 0/2 0/1 0/1 1/3 1; TOTALS 28/53 22/37 6/16 6/10 68.
Total FG 1st Half 14/26 53.8% 2nd Half 14/27 51.9% Game 28/53 52.8% 3 PT FG 1st Half 4/9 44.4% 2nd Half 2/7 28.6% Game 6/16 37.5% Free Throws 1st Half 4/4 100% 2nd Half 2/6 33.3% Game 6/10 60.0%.
