Eagles top Trojans by 12

By ASHLEY SCOBY

GLASGOW — In the end, Campbellsville’s size and athleticism just won out, according to Barren County Coach Warren Cunningham. His Trojans fell 56-44 Wednesday night to the Eagles in the third-place game of the T.J. Samson Hospital Christmas Classic.

Both teams got off to hot starts and it looked as if Barren was going to be able to contain Campbells-ville’s size advantage. The teams traded baskets for the first four minutes of the game, with the Eagles leading 9-8 at the 4:44 mark. Soon enough, the Eagles began to pull away after two free throws from Bryton Taylor and a basket from Thomas Downs with four minutes to play in the period.

The success on offense would continue for both teams until the 1:10 mark of the quarter. After a Taylor basket for the Eagles, both teams combined for five missed shots to close the quarter.

Campbellsville led by seven to start the second quarter and that lead would get no smaller than five for the rest of the game.

The Eagles built their lead to 12 with less than four minutes to play in the half off of yet another Taylor basket (He scored 10 points in the half).

Cunningham called a timeout after that basket to regroup, but failed to score a field goal of their own until there was only a minute and a half to play in the half.

Tyler Hughes scored two to pull his team to within 11 at 32-21. A Ben Hubbard bucket shortly after set the halftime score of 32-23, Campbells-ville.

A glaring stat from the first half was fast-break points, which the Eagles led 12-0. Cunningham would not necessarily chalk that up to the Eagles’ speed.

“I think it was just us not getting back on defense,” he said of the disparity in fast-break points for the first half. “The layups we gave up in transition were the difference in the game. We just can’t afford not getting back on defense against a team like Campbellsville. They have too many good players.”

To start the third quarter, Barren County was able to cut Campbellsville’s lead back to six at 7:01 after a Hubbard three-point play. The Eagles attempted a lob pass on the next play that resulted in a turnover and then missed a layup in transition, but was able to start building their lead again after an Aaron Schwoebel basket. Another Schwoebel basket a minute and a half later, followed by a Jordan Percell score brought the lead to 12 again with less than four minutes to play in the third quarter.

A lot of Campbellsville’s scoring was coming from second-chance opportunities after offensive rebounds. They ended the game with a 41-19 rebounding advantage and Cunningham believed that had a lot to do with how his players were playing.

“We just didn’t do a good job boxing out on rebounds,” he said. “We couldn’t get five players to help us out with rebounding. We could get two or three in there but never five.”

After a lackluster third quarter by both teams — they combined for 17 total points in the quarter — Campbellsville turned up the intensity in the final quarter, scoring 17 in the period to set the final score. After a three-pointer from Taylor and a basket from Matthew Davis, the Eagles led the game 45-32 with less than five minutes to play.

A minute and a half later, that lead had been cut to eight after a basket from Hubbard and a Caleb Dubree three-pointer for the Trojans.

A basket from Downs and two free throws from Taylor sealed the deal, as the players gave Campbellsville a 51-39 lead with 1:22 to play.

After being fouled on a three-point attempt, Trojans player Luke Deckard made all three free throws to cut the lead back to single digits seven seconds later, but Campbellsville’s foul shooting would allow them to hold on to their big lead, setting the final score of 56-44.

Even as Barren County closed out their participation in the Christmas Classic with two losses, Cunningham believes that the benefits will pay off in the long run.

“We played some really good teams in this tournament,” he said. “We’ll learn from that and we will learn from our mistakes to help us through this season.”



Troajans scoring

Luke Deckard 18

Ben Hubbard 12

Tyler Hammer 5

Caleb Dubree 3

Austin Birge 2

Tyler Hughes 2

Jacoby Poore 2

Text Only