Campbell Hall puts up a good fight in Ohio, but comes up short in OT

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Hope a lot of you out there were tuned into ESPN2 tonight to catch its nationally televised coverage of the Campbell Hall and Lakewood (Ohio) St. Bernard basketball game. If not, you missed a classic matchup between two of the better high school programs in the country. A classic matchup between two of the better players in the nation. A classic finish, with the host Eagles prevailing, 78-73 in overtime.

UCLA-bound Jrue Holiday looked good, relaxed as can be, for the Vikings, ranked No. 7 in The Times’ preseason poll and No.25 in the ESPN High Elite 25. In fact, the senior guard put on a show in the first half, scoring 18 points, 14 in the first eight minutes to guide the Vikings to a 37-29 lead at halftime. He finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds and four assists.

‘Not many people gave us a chance to win,’’ Vikings coach Terry Kelly said via cellphone after addressing his team following the game. ‘We wanted to come out and prove that we can play with the best of the best in the country. We’re not going to back down from anybody.’’

Holiday’s counterpart, Delvon Roe, a Michigan St. commit, was equally impressive for the Eagles, No. 12 in USA Today’s Super 25 rankings. Similar to Holiday, the media coverage didn’t appeared to bother Roe, who scored 11 points in the first half and ended up with 17 points, highlighted by thunderous dunks over Max Rose and James Johnson.

Haven’t checked to see if ESPN is going to show a replay of the game, but it might be worth looking into if you didn’t see the action the first time around. Holiday vs. Roe in the first half, a three-pointer by freshman Austin McBroom to send the game into overtime, the wild extra five minutes of play.... This one was a classic.

--Sean Ceglinsky, guest blogger

-- Image from worldhistory.mrdonn.org