Staff photo / Neel Madhavan. Campbell’s Xavion Leonard (23) chases down and blocks Chaney’s Isaiah Williams (4) in the second half Saturday night.

CAMPBELL — Despite facing an 11-point deficit to Chaney at halftime, Campbell wasn’t fazed.

Behind 24 total points from Kevin Moore, including 16 in the second half, the Red Devils outscored the Cowboys by 18 points after the break to come back and knock off their rival 63-56 Saturday night.

“Being down 11 to a good team like this, you’re kind of on that teeter thinking are we going to make a run here or is it going to get out of hand?” said Campbell head coach Nick Canterino. “I just have to give it to our guys. Our senior leaders never blinked once. We’re down 11 and we just bear down and started making plays — that’s all you can ask for from these kids.”

After leading by two at the end of the first quarter, the Cowboys outscored Campbell 18-9 in the second quarter, with most of those coming via second-chance points off offensive rebounds.

“We played our game in the first half,” said Chaney head coach Marlon McGaughy. “In the second half, we walked the ball up the court. That’s not what we do. We get the ball up the court, we get them tired and wear them down at the end of the game. We didn’t do that today.”

Opting mostly to stick to the game plan that got them there, the Red Devils (12-1) made one small change in the second half — attack the glass.

In the third quarter, the Red Devils started getting the rebounds and started hitting the shots that the Cowboys (11-6) were missing.

“We picked up the pace a little bit because we kind of got out of our rhythm in the second quarter,” Canterino said. “They did a really good job crashing the offensive glass and they were killing us in the first half with offensive rebounds. Our halftime adjustment was just to get all five guys on a body. I thought we did that and that’s when it started to turn.”

“We made sure we got that rebound,” Moore said. “Whoever won that rebound matchup in the second half was going to win.”

In the decisive third, Campbell outscored Chaney 22-6. The Red Devils shot 3-of-4 from three-point range, while Chaney couldn’t buy a basket — shooting 0-for-6 from distance in the quarter.

“We got a little stagnant,” McGaughy said. “They got every loose ball, they got all the rebounds.”

But, part of that poor shooting was a product of Campbell’s defense as well.

“We pushed up a little bit more — we felt like we could get in there and make them have to work 80 feet every possession instead of sticking back in the half court and letting them walk it up,” Canterino said. “We got some turnovers in the full court and we kind of pressured them a little bit and they weren’t really ready for it.”

When the three’s didn’t fall, Chaney went back to what it does best — utilizing its speed, size and athleticism to get downhill, drive into the lane and get to the rim.

It worked — to an extent, the Cowboys were able to drive and draw fouls, but struggled once they got to the free-throw line.

“We try to tell them to get to the hoop and get some fouls, but if you go to the line and miss free throws, it doesn’t matter,” McGaughy said. “When you shoot (9-for-19) from the free-throw line, you’re not going to win any games.”

As Chaney continued to attack to try to chip away at Campbell’s second half leads, the fouls started to pile up for the Red Devils. At one point in the fourth quarter, three Campbell players had four fouls.

The Red Devils’ second-leading scorer Xavion Leonard fouled out with 12 points, but the other two — Moore and Jameer Weaver — were able to stay in the game with their four fouls apiece.

Each of them were pivotal down the stretch for Campbell. Weaver picked up a crucial steal off an inbound that allowed Campbell to keep possession of the ball clinging to a one-possession lead with under a minute to go and Moore went 6-for-6 at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter to help the Red Devils close out the game.

“All these kids know each other,” Canterino said. “The environment was crazy. The JV game was crazy. That’s just what you want this time of year. You want that tournament feel. We’re excited that we were able to make enough plays to come up with the victory.”

nmadhavan@tribtoday.com