Thursday,
January 30, 2003
Contact: Stan Cole
Emerson Leads Mercer Past Campbell 77-62 In Atlantic Sun Men's
Basketball
BUIES CREEK,
N.C. – Scott Emerson scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds
while Aleem Muhammad added 19 points to lead Mercer to a 77-62
Atlantic Sun men's basketball win over Campbell on Thursday night
at Carter Gym.
Mercer
(12-5, 6-2) held a commanding 50-23 advantage on the boards,
including 24 offensive rebounds, and won for the third time in its
last four games.
Delmar Wilson contributed 14 points, Clarence Baker had 12 and
Wesley Duke pulled down 11 rebounds for the Bears.
Brooks Lee scored 20 points on 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point
range and 5-of-5 from the free throw line and added seven assists
to lead Campbell (4-14, 1-7), which dropped its third-straight
game. Robby Dupre came off the bench to score 12 points.
Campbell's top two scorers – Tarick Johnson, who entered
the game averaging better than 17 points per game, and Jonte
Edwards (12.4 points per game) – were held to a combined 11
points on 3-of-12 shooting.
Mercer jumped to a 24-12 lead with 8:21 left in the first
half, but Campbell rattled off 13-consecutive points to take its
only lead of the game. Dupre scored seven points in the stretch,
including a jumper with 5:26 remaining in the first period that put
the Camels in front 25-24.
Baker then sparked an 11-0 Mercer run with seven points, an
assist and a steal. Campbell cut the gap to five before Wilson's
tip-in at the buzzer gave the Bears a 38-31 advantage at the
break.
Despite shooting only 24 percent from the floor in the second
half, Campbell was able to narrow the margin to as few as nine
points, but never drew closer. Mercer, which held a 38-13 edge on
the boards in the final 20 minutes, led by as many as 18
points.
Mercer shot 44.9 percent (31-69) from the floor, but just 47.4
percent (9-19) from the foul line, while hitting 6-of-15 (.400)
from 3-point range. Campbell hit on just 38 percent of its field
goals (17-45), but made 8-of-18 threes (.444) and 20-of-21 from the
stripe (.952).
The 15-point decision marked just the second time in the last
nine games between the schools that the margin of victory was
greater than four points. Last year, the teams split overtime
decisions, each winning at home. Mercer holds a 7-6 edge in the
all-time series.
Campbell returns to action on Saturday in a 4:00 p.m. tip-off
at home vs. Troy State. [Box Score]
