Contact: Stan Cole

Gray and Johnson Lead Campbell Past Lipscomb 90-84

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Seniors Derek Gray and Tarick Johnson combined for 42 points to lead Campbell to a 90-84 Atlantic Sun men's basketball victory over Lipscomb on Saturday in front of an overflow crowd of 1045 at Carter Gym.

Gray, a native of Mauldin, S.C., scored a career-high 21 points in his first start at point guard of the year for Campbell (2-17, 2-10). Gray, who usually is the starter at the two-guard, hit 5-of-9 shots, including 2-of-4 threes, and canned 9-of-12 free throws to go with four assists and just two turnovers in 34 minutes.

Johnson, a product of Fayetteville, N.C., finished with 21 points (18 in the first half), plus 13 rebounds. The 6-foot-4 wing made 5-of-8 shots, including 2-of-3 treys, plus 9-of-10 from the line.

Dominique Klein added 14 points and eight boards, while Diego Aguiar came off the bench to contribute 14, plus seven rebounds for the Camels, who ended a four-game losing streak.

Brian Fisk led Lipcomb (5-14, 2-9) with 26 points and 6 assists. The freshman guard hit 7-of-13 shots, including 3-of-6 threes, and all nine of his free throw attempts. James Poindexter added 17 points, Jason Jackson 11 and Russell Hankins 10 for the Bisons, who lost their third-straight game since defeating Campbell 78-61on Jan. 22 at Nashville, Tenn.

Campbell played without point guard Anthony Atkinson, who sat out the game due to a violation of team policy. Atkinson entered the game as the team's second-leading scorer (11.1) and ranked third in the A-Sun in assists (4.2).

In Atkinson's absence, the Camels broke to a 45-33 lead at the break, their largest halftime advantage of the year. Johnson scored 18 first-half points on 4-5 shooting, plus 8-8 from the stripe.

Campbell rode an 11-0 run in the first half to an 18-9 edge with 13:23 left on Klein's lay-in off Aguiar's pass. The Camels led by as many as 14 in the first period, 13 in the second before Lipscomb cut the margin.

Hankins' triple cut the margin to 62-59 with 9:17 left, but Johnson answered with a jumper for Campbell on the next possession. Lipscomb cut the gap to as few as four points four times in the last 2:30, but never got closer.

The Camels made 11-of-14 foul shots in the final 53 seconds, and hit an NCAA Division I era (since 1977-78) school-record 36 free throws (in 43 attempts).

Campbell shot 46 percent (25-55) from the field, 84 percent (36-43) from the line, and held a 41-35 edge on the boards. Lipscomb made 46 percent (25-54) of its shots, but only 26-of-42 (62 percent) from the stripe.

The Camels scored 29 points off 18 Lipscomb turnovers. Last week at Nashville, Lipscomb committed only seven turnovers (just one in the second half) and out-rebounded CU 41-39.

"Coming out of halftime with a 12-point lead, we knew they were going to make a hard run at us, and they did," said first-year Camel coach Robbie Laing. "But collectively, we were unified offensively and defensively. It was such a well-composed offensive effort.

"It's just a shame that Derek Gray is leaving us (at the end of the year)," said Coach Laing. "Throw our record out the window, he's just a winner. This was the first time he's started at point guard in a long time and he responded to the challenge. Tarick Johnson had so much influence on the outcome of this ballgame and took just eight shots. With 16 rebounds on Wednesday and 13 today, those are great numbers anywhere in the country."

Campbell hosts Belmont on Monday at 7:00 p.m. [Box Score]