Thursday, January 20, 2005

Contact: Stan Cole

Jacksonville Rallies for 61-57 Atlantic Sun Win at Campbell

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Jacksonville rallied from a 10-point second half deficit and held on to defeat Campbell 61-57 Thursday night in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball action at Carter Gym.

After Ruell Pringle's free throws put the Camels in front 45-35 with 10:00 remaining, the Dolphins (9-7, 5-4) made four-straight baskets to start a decisive 14-0 run en route to their fourth-consecutive win.

Antonio Cool and David Lee led Jacksonville with 13 points each, while Aubrey Conerly added 12, nine in the second half.
Pringle and Maurice Latham, who grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, led Campbell with 15 points apiece.

Campbell led 29-23 at half-time and Russ Gibson's 3 from the corner pushed the gap to 42-35 with 11:59 to play. However, the Camels went the next 7:53 without a field goal and fell to their 10th-consecutive loss.

Jesse Kimbrough, who scored all nine of his points in the second half, started a 14-0 Jacksonville rally on a short jumper with 9:52 to play. The Dolphins went on to hit 9 of their final 15 attempts from the field (60 percent) after making just 15 of their first 44 shots (.341) through the midway point of the second period.

Campbell, which made only 3 of its final 15 shots (20 percent) and just 5 of its last 12 from the line, still had a chance to tie the score in the waning moments.

Stephon Griffin made the first of two foul attempts with 18 seconds left, missed the second, but JU lost the rebound out of bounds. Pringle's 22-footer with 10 seconds to go bounced off the iron and B.J. Surry hit 1-of-2 from the stripe for the final margin.

Jacksonville shot 40.7 percent (24-59) from the floor for the game, and Campbell held a 44-39 advantage on the boards, but the Dolphins turned 19 Campbell turnovers into 19 points. Campbell, by contrast, forced 12 Jacksonville miscues, but only gained six points off those errors.

The Camels, who played without injured sophomore center Diego Aguiar, shot just 32.7 percent from the field.

Campbell returns to action Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when Stetson visits Carter Gym. Jacksonville travels to Gardner-Webb for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off Saturday. [Box Score]