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SMYRNA - Harrison took advantage of Campbell turnovers to jump out to a big lead and then fought off a Spartan comeback in the third quarter to win the Region 5AAAAA contest, 65-53, on Tuesday.

Harrison (12-3, 4-0) led, 19-8, at the end of the first quarter, with Campbell's 11 turnovers in that quarter playing a big role.

Campbell appeared to be getting back in the game early in the third quarter as it cut the Harrison lead to six, but the Hoyas finished the quarter with a 15-6 run and were never threatened after that.

"The key parts of the game for us were the first and third quarters," Harrison coach Jerry Meuschke said. "We didn't run down the court and turn the ball over, we were patient on offense and we played good defense and caused Campbell to turn the ball over a few times. We got away from that a little bit in the second quarter, but we got back to it in the third quarter and that made the difference for us."

Campbell (9-5, 2-3) committed 23 turnovers in the game, but the miscues were only part of the problem for a Spartan squad that struggled in all phases of the game.

"We didn't shoot well, we didn't defend well, we shot poorly at the free throw line, we turned the ball over too much, we didn't rebound," Campbell coach James Gwyn said. "That's not a good combination."

Matt Sundberg scored 19 points, while Gerald Smith added 12 points and Ryan Bayersdorfer and Vincent Martin each had 10 to lead the way for Harrison.

Travis Wallace led Campbell with 21 points, with Jaren Bynes adding 10 for the Spartans.

Campbell turned the ball over on passes thrown out of bounds on its first two possessions and Smith stole the ball and scored on a layup to give Harrison a 2-0 lead with 6:52 remaining in the first quarter.

Campbell proceeded to turn the ball over on its next two offensive possessions. Smith was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to push the Hoya lead up to 5-0 with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

Jaren Bynes put Campbell on the scoreboard with a jumper to cut the Harrison lead to 6-2 with 5:04 remaining in the first quarter.

Harrison got the ball back after Campbell's Eric White was called for traveling and the Hoyas proceeded to score on a tip in by Sundberg to increase their lead to 8-2 with 3:49 left, with Sundberg following up with a transition layup to increase the Hoya advantage to 10-2 with 3:25 left.

Harrison got the ball right back as Smith committed a steal, was fouled on a layup and hit a pair of free throws to make it 12-2 with 3:14 left.

Harrison went on to lead 19-8 at the end of the first quarter and the Hoyas held a 31-19 advantage at halftime.

Wallace helped Campbell close the gap at the beginning of the second half, scoring on a putback with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter, made a couple of free throws with 7:03 left and hit two more free throws with 6:44 left to cut the Harrison lead to 31-25.

Harrison proceeded to move its lead back up to double digits, however, as Martin scored on a transition layup with 5:31 left and Darvin Adams scored on a dunk with 4:54 left to give the Hoyas a 35-25 advantage.

Campbell managed to get back within single digits as it trailed 37-29 with 3:27 left in the third quarter, but Sundberg hit a couple of free throws and Bayersdorfer scored on a transition layup to increase Harrison's lead to 41-29.

Kenneth McLaurin scored on a layup with 2:40 left to cut the Hoya advantage to 41-31, but Sundberg nailed a 3-pointer and Kevin Jackson scored on a transition layup to help Harrison finish the third quarter with a 46-31 and the Hoyas maintained a large lead the rest of the way.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

n Campbell 70, Harrison 40: The Lady Spartans outscored the Lady Hoyas 14-5 in the second quarter, then pulled away even further with a 23-10 run in the fourth quarter to take the Region 5AAAAA win.

Brittany Hodges scored 15 points and Chakecia Miller added 12 to lead Campbell (7-6, 2-2), which won its fourth game in a row.

Harrison (0-12, 0-4) was led by Laura Meade with 12 points.

goshust@mdjonline.com

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