State-ranked Campbell overtakes South Pemiscot late 78-68 in C2D1 boys basketball semifinal

Photo by Dustin Ward, staff
Campbell’s Kaden Siebert (12) and South Pemiscot’s Shawn Kinnon (20) eye a loose ball in a Class 2, District 1 boys basketball semifinal Tuesday at Campbell High School.

CAMPBELL - It took a late rally but the Campbell Camels varsity boys basketball squad found a way to keep its hopes of securing its first district title in school history alive Tuesday night.

The No. 1 seeded Campbell Camels overcame a 64-57 deficit in the final five minutes of regulation to beat the No. 4 seeded South Pemiscot Bulldogs 78-68 in a Class 2, District 1 semifinal at Campbell High School.

“I thought our kids finished strong,” Campbell coach Steve Fowler said. “I think our senior-leadership kicked in late. Our kids didn’t want to go home and lived to play another day. I was really proud of our kids. They battled all night, but late in the fourth they buckled down even more and got some key stops. It’s a really good win for us.”

South Pemiscot, which entered the fourth quarter up 53-52, increased its lead to seven before Campbell scored 13 unanswered points to move ahead 70-64 with 2:10 remaining. South Pemiscot managed to cut the deficit back to 70-66 with 1:41 left but never got closer.

“We had a pretty good game plan for them after playing them a couple times,” South Pemiscot coach Jordan McGowan said. “We thought we had a really good shot at them. We gave them all they wanted but struggled scoring the basketball late. I don’t think a 10-point margin shows how close this game really was. I’m really proud of our seniors for sticking around and being the groundbreakers for my program at South Pemiscot this year. Hopefully they got the ball rolling and we see great things in the years to come.”

Campbell, which jumped out to double digit leads in its first two games against South Pemiscot this season, found itself playing catchup early in the third head-to-head battle. South Pemiscot enjoyed a lead as large as 16-6 in the final minute of the first quarter before Campbell battled back to tie things up at 31-all by the halftime break.

“We missed a lot of easy shots early,” Fowler said. “It allowed South Pemiscot, who played really well in the first quarter, to build an early lead. We didn’t play very well early on but we weathered the storm against a very good team.”

Both teams led by at least seven points in a see-saw third quarter. Campbell enjoyed a lead as large as 40-33 less than three minutes into the second half before South Pemiscot went up by as much as 51-42 with 2:10 left in the third quarter.

But Campbell outscored South Pemiscot 10-2 in the final two minutes of the third quarter to get within one point and won the fourth quarter by 11 points.

“We had to go pretty deep due to a lot foul trouble,” McGowan said. “Amerson fouled out early in the third quarter. With him coming out that really hurt us. Campbell did a good job of attacking the basket and getting us in foul trouble. But I thought our bench stepped up and played really hard.”

Campbell knocked down 26 of 37 free throw attempts, including 12 of 14 in the fourth quarter.

“We got to the line and made some free throws,” Fowler said. “We missed a few but did a good job making most of our free throws.”

Campbell senior guard Blake Fowler, who tallied 27 of his team-high 30 points after halftime, made 12 of 15 free throws.

"South Pemiscot did a good job of denying Blake the ball early,” Fowler said. "But he kind of got rocking and rolling as the game progressed.”

Senior guard Kaden Siebert, who hit a team high three treys, also finished in double digits for Campbell with 21 points.

“He played really well,” Fowler said. “He really stepped up tonight."

Senior Ashton Thompson paced South Pemiscot with 14 points. Juniors Jonathan Parry and Mark Jones added a dozen points each. Junior Shawn Kinnon, who hit half of South Pemiscot’s six treys, also scored in double digits with 11 points.

South Pemiscot finishes its season with a record of 17-8 in its first year under McGowan.

“We’ve got a shot to be really good again next year and are looking forward to it,” McGowan said.

Campbell (20-4) will take on No. 2 seeded Bernie (20-5) Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Class 2, District 1 title game at Holcomb High School. Bernie advanced to the title game after beating No. 3 seeded Hayti 73-50 in its semifinal Tuesday. Campbell beat Bernie 43-28 in the championship of the Campbell Invitational on Dec. 4.

“Bernie is a very good basketball team that is very well-coached,” Fowler said. “They are going to be ready to play so we are going to have to buckle down and get ready.”

No. 1 Campbell 78, No. 4 South Pemiscot 68

SOUTH PEMISCOT (68) - Jonathan Parry 12, Tawonn Amerson 4, Mark Jones 12, Shawn Kinnon 11, Ashton Thompson 14, Zach Southern 8, K. Johnson 2, Layne McCormick 5. FG 27, FT 8/14, F 29. (3-pointers: Parry 2, Jones 1, Kinnon 2; Fouled out: Amerson, Jones.)

CAMPBELL (78) - Blake Fowler 30, Joey Barnett 5, Charlie Parker 5, Kaden Siebert 21, Skylar Morrison 6, Gavin Biggs 2, Carlos Camargo 9. FG 22, FT 26/37, F 19. (3-pointers: Fowler 2, Siebert 3, Morrison 1, Barnett 1; Fouled out: None.)