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Campbell Camels crowned kings of Senath-Hornersville Christmas Tournament
SENATH, Mo. - It was a long day of basketball at Senath-Hornersville High School, as they held the final day of their Christmas tournament.
After a week of advancements through the tournament, Campbell was able to walk away as champions once more. They beat the hosting Lions 75-65 for their second tournament win of the season.
The Campbell won their home tournament to start the season and will now at this tournament to their trophy case. According to senior Layden Kellum, this was one of their biggest goals before heading into the winter break.
“It feels good,” Kellum said. “It was something we wanted to accomplish, and we won both tournaments so now we want to keep this momentum and keep moving on.”
The Camels took an early lead over Senath-Hornersville behind Kellum’s scoring.
He had four three-pointers in the first half, outshooting everyone on the court from beyond the arc.
At the first half's conclusion, Kellum had 16 of Campbell’s 39 points. Meanwhile, Senath-Hornersville trail by 13 at halftime with 26 points.
However, the Lions did not go away as easily as Campbell would have liked.
After only scoring nine points in the second quarter, Senath-Hornersville came out strong in the third. They outscored the Camels 22-18.
Junior Jamarious White helped lead this attempted comeback, working his way inside the paint. He had 10 points in the second half, all scored under the basket. Along with him, junior guard Gerardo (Gerry) Castillo began getting hot from three-point land.
Despite only having four points in the first half, Castillo would knock down three from three-point range en route to conduct 11 second-half points.
Their efforts weren’t enough to cut down on Campbell’s lead, which continued to grow from the free-throw line. They made 19 free throws in the second half compared to only making three out of three attempts in the first half.
This helped them contain their lead despite Senath-Hornersville's second-half scoring.
Along with their free points, head coach Steve Fowler credits this win to the strength of his starting five.
All five of his starters scored in the double digits, guiding their way to their second championship win.
“That’s exactly what we’ve been talking about,” Fowler said. “We have enough guys who can put the ball in the hole and if we do things right offensively, we can put any team away.”
While Kellum led the Camels with 20 points, junior Drew Fowlers finished with 17 points. He only had two field goals, a three-pointer plus an “and-one” layup. However, he was almost flawless from the free-throw line. He was three for three in the first half and nine for 10 in the second, missing only one free throw the entire night.
Along with Kellum and Drew Fowler, senior Ben Rowland and junior Caiden Mayberry each had 14 points.
Rowland also had a near-flawless night at the line, making seven out of eight of his free throws. Meanwhile, Mayberry scored three three-pointers and was one for two from the free-throw line.
The final starting scoring in double-digits to secure this win was junior Kennan Siebert. He had 10 points, including two three-pointers and two made free throws.
These starters scored all of Camels' points. Steve Fowler said he knew they would have to step up to get the Championship trophy over Senath-Hornersville on their home court.
“This was pretty special,” Fowler said. “Our guys really wanted this one. We talked about winning both opening tournaments and that was something they really wanted to achieve. Senath-[Hornersville] is a really good basketball team and we knew coming in that they were going to be ready, especially playing at home. Coach [Kyle] Moore does a great job with his guys and we knew we were going to have to be ready.”
With this win, the Camels have gotten off to an 8-1 start on their season while the Lions fall to 7-2.
Senath-Hornersville will take two weeks off before their next competition on Jan. 7 when they host a 6-3 Twin Rivers team. This game is slated to start at 7:30 p.m.
Campbell will get back to work following the Holiday week, with their next game against Naylor on Dec. 30. The Camels will host this game at 5:30 p.m.