‘That’s not going to happen again.’ Owyhee puts last year’s disappointment in rearview
USC signee Liam Campbell is the kind of player who could justifiably take 25 shots a game.
But the 6-foot-5 Owyhee senior guard has made winning the priority, even if it means fewer points on the stat sheet.
The balanced Storm rolled to a 74-49 victory over Eagle High in the second annual Battle for the Bolt on Tuesday at Owyhee. Campbell was one of four Owyhee players to score in double figures, notching 17 points with six rebounds, three assists, one steal and one blocked shot.
“I’ve never played with someone like that,” said Owyhee junior Boden Howell, who joined the program this year from South Medford, Oregon. “In practice every day, I’ve been able to match up with him. It’s been a great experience, and I couldn’t ask for anything better. I feel like it’s really helped me as a player, just being able to learn and watch him every day.”
Campbell led the 5A classification last season, scoring an average of 20.1 points per game. His average is down slightly this season at 17 points per game, due largely to the Storm’s propensity for sharing the basketball. Owyhee had 21 assists on its 28 made field goals against Eagle, and the Storm (11-3, 5-0) have won their first five 5A Southern Idaho Conference boys basketball games by an average of 28.8 points.
“I think that we are very balanced, we play super hard and we play good defense,” Owyhee coach Andy Harrington said. “We had four guys in double figures tonight, and it’s been like that all year. We’re just trying to take what the defense gives us. … The guys have bought in to playing basketball the right way.”
In its inaugural season in 2021-22, Owyhee went 24-3, winning the school’s first district and state championships. The Storm were favored to win it all again last season, but suffered an overtime loss to Meridian in the first round of the state tournament and had to settle for the consolation trophy.
Campbell has been adamant the top-ranked Storm turn the page.
“This summer, on about June 24th, Liam told me that I needed to stop talking about Meridian and we needed to move on,” Harrington said. “I’ve tried to stop talking about that since then, but we want to play better. I think that we’re focused on playing our best, and we didn’t feel like we played our best when it mattered last year.”
Owyhee has been at its best this season when everyone gets involved, as was evident Tuesday against the Mustangs.
The Storm trailed for much of the first quarter until junior guard Jayce Allen came off the bench and hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Owyhee then nailed five triples in the second quarter — three by Campbell and two from Howell — to turn a one-point game into a 38-24 advantage at the half.
The Storm finished 13-for-30 from 3-point range, with six different players connecting from deep, and seven different players registered one assist or more.
Howell led all scorers with 18 points, including a 4-for-8 performance from beyond the arc, to go with five rebounds and five assists. Junior Jackson Rasmussen added 11 points, three rebounds and three assists, and sophomore Logan Haustveit also reached double figures for the Storm with 10 points.
“I think there’s a lot of eyes on our program, and we just want to be the best team in the state,” Campbell said. “We kind of ended our season early (last year) by a first-round loss to Meridian, so we want to show everyone that’s not going to happen again. Obviously our main goal is to win a state title.”
