Contact: Stan Cole

Mercer Survives Late Campbell Run For a 92-86 Win

Mercer's historic Porter Gym has seen its fair share of close games through the years.

The ancient gym added to its lore on Saturday as Mercer overcame an early 10 point deficit to take a 23 point lead, only to see Campbell make one last heated run before the Bears finished off the Camels for a 92-86 win.

Delmar Wilson led the Bears (7-8, 4-2 A-Sun) with a career-high 26 points and nine rebounds. Wesley Duke added 17 points to go along with Jay January 16 points and Jacob Skogen's 14 points off the bench as the Bears extended their home winning streak to 13.

Anthony Atkinson led five Camels in double figures with 19 points. Derek Gray added a career-high 15 with the trio of Tarick Johnson, Dominque Klein and Colin Hunt all chipping in with 10 points apiece.

Campbell (0-12, 0-5 A-Sun) opened the game with a 16-6 run, capped by Atkinson's first of four 3-pointers. The 10 point lead was the largest this season at any point in a game by Campbell.

Mercer answered to take a short-lived lead, 19-18, before the Camels rallied with an 11-0 run to take 29-19 lead on a jumper by Derek Gray.

The Bears roared back, closing the half on a 26-10 run, to take a 45-39 lead into the locker room at halftime.

And Mercer picked up right where they left off in the second half, opening the half with a 31-14 run to push the lead to 23 on Wilson's second of three 3-pointers, with just over seven minutes left in the game.

Campbell then made its run by scoring 31 points in the last seven minutes. The Camels hit six 3-pointers during the run and cut the lead to four with 16 seconds left in the game.

January stroked two free throws to push the lead back to six, but Lee Marsh hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to three, 89-86, with eight seconds left.

The Bears were able to keep the Camels off the scoreboard the rest of the way, with Mercer hitting 3-of-4 from the free throw line to hold on for the 92-86 win.

The Camels took advantage of Mercer's mistakes, converting the 24 turnovers by the Bears into 29 points.

CU returns home for an A-Sun game with in-state rival Gardner-Webb on Wednesday. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. [Box Score]

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