GAINESVILLE — If you happened to be hanging around the Letchworth gymnasium Tuesday night and saw a green and white flash roll by you like a tornado — no worries — that was just Pat Campbell and the rest of the in-your-shorts Avon Braves’ basketball team.
Campbell, a 5-foot-10 senior guard, exploded for a game-high 25 points, including 15 in the first half, as No. 10 Avon outhustled and outmuscled No. 10 Letchworth 50-37 in Class CC first round action.
Campbell led a huge turnaround in the first half as Avon’s top player, senior Garrett Kesel, went to the bench with his third foul with 1:06 left in the first period and the Braves trailing 10-6.
“We are not about just one player here, we have several players that can step up when we need them to and tonight just happened to be my time,” said Campbell. “When Garrett went to the bench — we didn’t panic —we just stepped up our game.”
After Letchworth took a 14-8 lead early in the second following point-guard Andre Roberts’ slicing lay-up, Campbell would net nine of the game’s next 11 points as he netted a sweet inside move to the hoop; tossed in a putback, knocked down a three-pointer from the wing, and hit a runner in the lane that turned a six point deficit into a 19-16 lead with 2:37 left in the second.
After Letchworth’s Ryan Owens hit a 12-foot jumper and Roberts hit two free-throws to put the Indians up 20-19, Campbell would knock down four straight from the charity stripe, followed by a circus move to the basket where his runner fell through, the Braves would gather the 25-20 lead late in the second.
The third period proved to be back and forth as Zoltan Pallagi took a backdoor feed from Kesel to put Avon up 27-21 only to watch Karter Button hit a lay-up off a no-look pass from Roberts that cut it to 27-23.
After Avon hit 1-of-2 free-throws on consecutive possessions to go up 29-23, the sophomore Owens would hit a spinning lay-up in the lane to make it 29-25.
A Campbell lay-up in traffic would get followed by a strong putback by Owens that made it 31-27.
Campbell would close the third period with a steal under the Letchworth basket where he went coast-to-coast the length of the court for the lay-up and a 33-27 Avon lead after three.
Owens would start the fourth with a strong lay-up inside that cut the deficit to 33-29 early in the fourth giving the Letchworth crowd something to cheer about.
Not for long.
That’s when the Avon defense, led by Campbell, Kesel, Pallagi, Seamus Donegan, Patrick Hayes, and James Stanton took over as they forced the Indians into numerous turnovers through their incredible ball pressure and half-court trap.
The defensive pressure would spark a 14-0 run for Avon as Pallagi put in a lay-up; Kesel went backdoor off a feed from Pallagi; Campbell hit a runner in the lane; Brian Babbitt netted a nice baseline shot; Kesel hit another lay-up; and Babbitt and Campbell each netted a pair of free-throws that turned a close game into a 47-29 Braves’ lead with 2:24 left.
“Our full-court press wasn’t doing much but I thought that our half-court trap was outstanding,” said Avon coach Rob Fries. “These kids sure do hustle. They play very hard at all times. I can’t ask any more from them.”
Donegan, a senior guard who was recently named class valedictorian, had a solid all-around game with four points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals while Kesel finished with six points and five boards. Babbitt added six points and three boards while Stanton tallied two points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Owens led Letchworth with 13 points and 13 rebounds while Chris Costello and Karter Button each added six points.
The victory for Avon (12-7) earned the season sweep over Letchworth (12-7) as the Braves won all three meetings.
“Anytime you can do that to a Letchworth team you know you’ve done something,” said coach Fries.
Avon will travel to No. 2 Marion (16-3) Friday in a quarterfinal match-up.
“We can play with anyone out there,” said Campbell. “We will bring it Friday and this team will be ready.”
