Cam hits 1,000
- Updated: February 15, 2023
Senior makes it three Jacksonville players to break the five-figure barrier in scoring as Golden Eagles top Handley to reach Northeast Regional
By Joe Medley
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE — Cam Johnson has been one of Jacksonville’s big-three mainstays through three head coaches, the school’s first-ever state championship in boys’ basketball and the Golden Eagles’ on-going title defense.
Tuesday, he joined the other two in the thousand-points club.
Johnson poured in 28 points, crossing 1,000 career points along the way, as Jacksonville rolled past Handley 84-45 in their Class 4A, Northeast subregional.
The Golden Eagles advanced to their 10th Northeast Regional appearance and will play Hanceville in Saturday’s 10:30 a.m. Class 4A regional semifinal.
The winner will play the White Plains-Etowah winner in the regional final on Feb. 22 at 2:15 p.m. in Pete Mathews Coliseum.
Tuesday’s subregional marked the final game in Van Deerman Gymnasium for the senior class, which includes Johnson, twin brother Caden Johnson, John Broom, Ethan Duke and Dee Prothro.
Cam Johnson got one last curtain call, joining Jacksonville coach Tres Buzan at midcourt for the presentation of Johnson’s 1,000-point ball.
“It feels great to have my thousand, and it feels great to win,” Johnson said.
He scored 20 first-half points to get within two points of the thousand-point mark. He scored the bucket on a breakaway layup at 2:20 of the third quarter, off of an assist from his brother.
“I got the rebound, and I saw him down the court and passed it to him,” Caden Johnson said.
Caden Johnson, who passed 1,000 points earlier this season, admits he’s teased his brother a time or two about getting to 1,000 points first.
The twins and Broom have been part of the trio that’s starred for Jacksonville going back to recreation-league ball. Center Cade Phillips came and went, transferring in from Westbrook Christian before the 2021-22 season then out, to Link Academy, in Branson, Mo., after helping Jacksonville win a state title.
After Tuesday’s game, Broom led the group with 1,714 career points. Caden Johnson is second at 1,267, followed by Cam Johnson at 1,006.
Cam Johnson padded his total with two 3-pointers after making his thousand-point bucket. He hit six threes on the night out of 11 total field goals.
“It was just shooting and believing in myself,” he said. “A couple of nights I’ve been off. I just went in the gym lately and worked on my shot.”
Buzan didn’t seen any particular magic in Johnson’s matchup that helped him have such a big night, call it “just his night.”
“I’m so proud of Cam,” Buzan said. “I know it’s been on his mind, and he’s been close. He hit a lot of big shots in the first half.
“That’s what you want to see this time of year. Everybody in the locker room is happy for him. The guys are picking him up. They’re all proud of him.”
Johnson had lots of help. Sophomore point guard Devin Barksdale hit the other four of Jacksonville’s 10 3-pointers en route to 20 points, and Broom scored 14 points.
The Golden Eagles took control with a 16-3 run, turning a 16-13 lead near the end of the first quarter into a double-digit spread that kept growing.
It wasn’t like last year’s regional final, where Handley pulled within 48-45 in the third quarter and 56-50 with 7:07 to play, before Jacksonville ended the game with a run to win 83-66.
“I thought we were athletic enough to run with them up and down the floor, but they’ve already got us in the post,” Handley coach Larry Strain said. “They’ve got a great point guard. They’ve got the Broom kid. They’ve got all of the pieces of the puzzle. I can’t double down on Broom, because he’s got the twins. I can’t double the point guard, because they’ve got all of them other folks.
”It’s just a nightmare to match up with them.”
Devonae Higgins led Handley with 17 points, and Cannon Kyles added 10.
Jay Haynes, the football running back who posted the second-highest single-game rushing total in AHSAA history with 476 yards against Jacksonville in the fall, finished with seven points.
“They’re extremely talented,” said Strain, also Handley’s football coach. “They’ve got probably five guys that play nothing but basketball. Most of my guys pick up basketball for a hobby because they’re football players.”
HANDLEY – Devontae Higgins 8-11 1-4 17, Cannon Kyles 5-7 0-0 10, Jay Haynes 3-8 0-1 7, Jordan West 1-3 2-2 4, Daquavion Slaughter 2-3 0-0 4, Tamarious Treadwell 1-12 0-1 3, Terrance Tucker 0-1, Nehemiah Askew 0-0 0-0 0, Amajah Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Bell 0-0 0-0 0, Cooper Perry 0-0 0-0 0, Trustin Phillips 0-0 0-0 0, Tmarion Phillips 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-46 3-8 45.
JACKSONVILLE – Cam Johnson 11-16 0-0 28, Devin Barksdale 8-15 0-0 20, John Broom 6-12 2-3 14, Ethan Duke 3-4 1-1 7, DeArion Prothro 3-5 0-0 6, Caden Johnson 2-6 1-1 5, DaMonte Sinclair 2-5 0-0 4, Jaquan Ervin 0-1 0-0 0, Imoree Young 0-0 0-0 0, King Elder 0-0 0-0 0, Kydric Fisher 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 35-66 4-5 84.
| Handley | 13 | 13 | 13 | 6 – | 45 |
| Jacksonville | 20 | 23 | 23 | 18 – | 84 |
3-point goals: Handley 2-12 (Higgins 0-1, Kyles 0-1, Haynes 1-3, West 0-2, Treadwell 1-5); Jacksonville 10-23 (Cam Johnson 6-10, Barksdale 4-8, Broom 0-1, Cd. Johnson 0-1, Sinclair 0-1, Fisher 0-2). Rebounds: Handley 23 (Kyles 5); Jacksonville 40 (Broom 8, Duke 8). Total fouls: Handley 12, Jacksonville 11.
Cover photo: Jacksonville’s Cam Johnson hits the layup that put him at 1,000 career points in the third quarter of the Golden Eagles’ 84-45 victory over Handley in a Class 4A Northeast subregional at Jacksonville. (Photo by Greg Warren)
You must be logged in to post a comment Login