By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sport reporter
Scott’s Jordan Clemons wasn’t trying to hit that game-winning, high-arching, perfectly released three-pointer from out near the logo with barely three seconds to go in a tied game that swished through the net with a second left sending his underdog Eagles to next week’s 10th Region tournament and the 37th District championship game against Campbell County Thursday.
And he didn’t feel a bit of pressure.
Nope. No way. How could he?
“I thought we were leading,” he said with a big grin after the game. “I just shot it to keep the ball in play.” And keep it away from the scrappy Mustangs on an in-bounds pass that had been batted around – first by super-quick Scott sophomore Kaydenn Marshall then thrown up-court by Brossart near where Clemons was waiting.
“I thought Ben’s basket gave us the lead,” he said of the length-of-the-floor driving layup in the blink of an eye by high-scoring freshman Benjamin Brown that made it 62-62 with 15.1 seconds left. “I was just trying to keep the ball in play.” And the high arc would have it in the air long enough so that Brossart couldn’t score.
“That’s a senior captain for you,” Scott coach Steve Fromeyer said of Clemons’ rationale. Except, of course, for that score thing. But in a thrill-a-minute game where the lead changed hands 11 times with six ties, who could blame him.
With the Brossart defense playing like every possession was fourth-and-goal inside the one-yard line, this was a bruising, physical affair with the winner moving on to play Campbell County at 7 Thursday here at the Campbell County Middle School.
And with a 62-60 lead with 15.1 seconds left against a team that had beaten them 83-74 in the regular season, the Eagles did what they’d done much of the game – put the ball in 6-foot-3 freshman Brown’s hands to make the call, to make the play.
But unlike what he’d done much of the game as a facilitator driving the lane, drawing the defense to him and dishing off, this time Brown kept it. Took it to the basket, driving past every single Brossart defender as he called his own number for his game-high 19th point.
“That was the play we drew up,” Brown said. “Perfectly executed,” said Fromeyer.
And what you might have expected on coming into the gym. After all, Brown and second-game star, Campbell County’s 6-6 sophomore Austin Davie, are two of the state’s four 50-point scorers in a game this season.
You put games like this in their hands. No other district has two of the three leading scorers in Northern Kentucky. Nor has two of the state’s top 15 scorers (Davie No. 12, Brown No. 15). But as both winning coaches said later, you need more than one star to win at this time of year.
After the 20-9 Camels win in the second game Tuesday, coach Brent Sowder was talking about sophomore Cade Anthrop who continued his strong season-ending finish with a game-high 24 points that showed off the same leadership and ball skills he brings over from his football days as the Camels’ top scorer from his receiver’s position.
“He’s really come on,” Sowder said of Anthrop, “we don’t talk about him enough,” adding 6-8 junior center Braeden Elam to the list after his 15 points with shot-blocking and rebounding skills.
And he works well with Davie, who scored 18 points but much like Brown on this day,
focused on “facilitating” — that was the word both Sowder and Davie used to describe it. “They look for each other,” Sowder says. As he does with Marshall, whose diving deflection started the game-winning play.
But to open this game with a preview of what he can do, Davie drove the lane for a high-flying power dunk that you normally have to go to an NBA game to see in person.
As for the matchup in the championship game of two young super scorers, “I try not to think about it too much,” Highland Heights resident Davie says, since it’s a team game.
But “it just shows how much talent we have in this district,” Sowder says.
That earlier 92-63 Campbell County win “was just my second game,” said Brown, whose transfer was approved at the semester. Although he did manage to score 33 points in that game while Davie hit for 27.
Now it’s another underdog challenge for Scott. Ever since Brown came aboard, Fromeyer says: “We have been recalibrating. It’s going to take all of us.” Which is why Marshall’s dive, and eight points, and those 12 points of Jayden Dodd mattered so much.
For the much bigger Camels, the No. 2 team in the 10th Region behind only George Rogers Clark, this is where they want to be. Headed downstate where they went two years ago with Sowder.
“Downstate, that’s our expectation . . . we want to go there every year,” Sowder says.
And while that’s not the expectation for small private Calvary Christian, the Cougars did hang in there halfway through the third quarter before running out of gas behind All-District three-point shooter Luke Corbin’s 14 points and big man Luke Getsy’s 15.
That was reflected in the job Brossart’s Beckett Kuntz and Drew Steffen did in scoring 16 and 15 points respectively in the first game while working to keep Brown in check as much as they could.
SCORING SUMMARY
Bishop Brossart (15-13): Boruske 2 2 1/1 11, Kuntz 1 3 4/4 15, Rowe 1 0 2/2 4, Trauth 2 0 2/2 6, Steffen 4 0 4/4 16, Hesse 2 0 2/2 6, Cozzi 1 0 2/4 4; TOTALS 9 9 17/21 62.
Scott (15-13): Jor. Clemons 2 2 3/4 13, Casnellie 1 0 0/0 2, Brown 6 0 7/9 19, Dodd 2 2 2/2 12, Marshall 4 0 0/0 8, Jon Clemons 0 1 2/2 5, Boyd 3 0 0/0 6, TOTALS: 18 5 14/18 65.
SCORING SUMMARY
CALVARY CHRISTIAN 13 12 16 12—53
CAMPBELL COUNTY 17 17 30 19—83
Calvary Christian (19-11): Zachary 1 0 0/0 2, Duty 2 0 5/5 9, Couch 0 2 0/0 6, Neville 0 0 0/0 0, Neal 0 0 0/0 0, Ayyilidz 1 0 0/0 2, Getsy 7 0 4/5 18, Sarge 0 0 0/0 0, Johnson 0 0 0/0 0, Corbin 1 4 2/2 16; TOTALS: 12 6 11/12 53.
Campbell County (20-9): Norwell 0 0 0.0 0, Ballinger 2 0 0/0 4, Little 0 0 0/0 0, Davie 7 0 4/6 18, X. Guy 4 1 0/0 11, Elam 7 0 1/3 15, Seibert 1 0 0/0 2, Riedinger 0 0 0/0 0, L. Anthrop 1-0 1/2 3, C. Anthrop 8 1 5/5 24, 1 0 5/5 6; TOTALS 31 2 15/21 83.