Campbell Dominates Belmont Abbey 100-61 in Exhibition Play behind Double-Double From Maurice Latham

BUIES CREEK, N.C.-Playing for the first time this season the Campbell basketball team looked like they have been playing for months beating Belmont Abbey 100-61 Saturday night in exhibition play. The Camels' Maurice Latham led all players with 20 points and 13 rebounds, while Greg Lavann led the Crusaders with 18 points.
Campbell shot 62 percent from the floor in the first half to jump out to a 50-32 lead at the break; the Camels finished the game shooting 52 percent (32-62) from the floor and 42 percent (10-24) from beyond the three-point line.
Belmont Abbey took a 19-14 lead with 13:38 to play in the opening half on a jumper by Lavann; however, Campbell closed the gap quickly and then took the lead for good with a layup by Diego Aguiar with 11:40 to play making the score 22-21.
Junior college transfer Eric Smith shot lights out from beyond the arc going 3-of-5 for Campbell; the Chicago, Ill. native finished with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting overall. Ledell Eackles, also a junior college transfer, was 5-of-9 from the floor, including 3-of-6 from three-point range, to finish with 14 points. Ruell Pringle and J'Quincy Jones each finished with 10 points rounding out the double-figure scoring for the Camels. Comerlee Poole scored nine points coming off the bench for the Camels in just 11 minutes of work.
Damien Humphrey had nine points and Sidney Hoff added eight for Belmont Abbey to compliment Lavann's 18.
The Camels dominated the boards outrebounding Belmont Abbey 52-34 and 16-12 on the offensive glass. Aguiar finished with eight boards for the Camels, while Colin Hunt and Jones each had six. Paul Petway led the Crusaders with nine rebounds and Lavann added five.
Both team struggled with their free throw shooting with the Camels going 26-of-43 for 61 percent, while Belmont Abbey shot 12-of-22 for 53 percent. Jake Wholfeil and Latham both shot well from the line for the Camels each shooting 80 percent, 4-of-6 for Wholfeil and 8-of-10 for Latham.
Turnovers also plagued both teams with the Crusaders losing 28 and the Camels handing it over 27 times. Aguiar and Jones caused a lot of problems defensively coming up with four and three steals, respectively.
Assists were a different story as the Camels were able to dish out 18 on the game, while Belmont Abbey only had eight. Wohlfeil and Reggie Bishop each had six for Campbell, while Humphrey, Steve Williams and Karl Bauza had two apiece for Belmont Abbey.
The Camels open up the regular season next Friday when the host San Diego at 7:00 pm in Carter Gymnasium.