Thursday, February 3, 2005

Contact: Stan Cole

Mercer Holds Off Campbell 83-77 In Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Jacob Skogen scored 18 of his 25 points in the second half and Mercer held off a late rally by upset-minded Campbell en route to an 83-77 Atlantic Sun men's basketball victory Thursday night at Carter Gym.

The Bears (12-7, 8-5) shot 64.5 percent (20-31) in the second period and won their second-straight game.

Will Emerson added 18 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the year, while James Odoms and Ross Alacqua scored 12 each. Damitrius Coleman, the nation's assists leader at 8.2 per game, dealt 11 for the Bears.

Ruell Pringle (23) and Maurice Latham (22) combined for 45 of Campbell's season-high 77 points. Freshman Jake Wohlfeil came off the bench to score a season-high 14, including 4-7 threes, while Comerlee Poole added 10 points and a team-leading seven rebounds.

Campbell shot a season-best 51.9 percent (28-54) from the floor, including 56.7 percent in the final period (17-30). CU held a 37-28 advantage on the boards, but the Camels could not overcome 20 turnovers, which the Bears turned into 14 points.

Mercer led by as many as 13 in the opening half, spurred by a 12-2 run, before Pringle and Wohlfeil canned threes to cut the deficit to 33-26 at the half.

Latham's free throws pulled the Camels within 41-37 with 15:44 to play. However, Mercer answered with a 16-4 run as Skogen notched a pair of three-point plays, and Odoms tallied eight of his 12 points during the flurry to push the margin to 57-41 with 11:43 remaining.

The Camels (2-18, 0-13), however, responded with a 12-2 spurt fueled by Pringle's two threes and Latham's four points.

Campbell pulled within three points five times down the stretch, the latest on Pringle's foul shots with 44 seconds left, but Damitrius Coleman drove the length of the floor and fed Wesley Duke for a three-point play on the following possession.

CU converted seven Mercer turnovers in the second half into 14 points and made all 12 of its foul shots in the final 20 minutes, but could not avoid a 15th-straight loss. Mercer finished the game shooting 47.8 percent (32-67) from the floor after hitting just 33 percent in the first period.

Pringle, a freshman from Virginia Beach, Va., had his best scoring outing since a 25-point effort at Central Florida Dec. 16 by hitting 8-16 shots, including 4-8 from 3-point territory. Latham, a junior from Norfolk, Va., matched his season high of 22 at UCF by making 9-15 shots.

Campbell hosts Georgia State Saturday in a 1:07 p.m. tip-off that will be televised in the Raleigh and Fayetteville markets on PAX-TV. [Box Score]