Contact: Stan Cole

Bishop Leads Campbell To A-Sun Road Win at Gardner-Webb 79-76

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Sophomore Reggie Bishop came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points and Campbell defeated Gardner-Webb 79-76 in Atlantic Sun basketball action Friday night at Paul Porter Arena.

Bishop had five points in a key 12-0 run midway through the second half and Campbell won back-to-back road games for the first time since Feb. 22-24, 2001. The 6-foot-3 guard from Gadsden, Ala., made 6-of-9 shots, including 4-of-6 threes, and hit 8-of-10 from the foul line (all in the second half.

Maurice Latham added 18 points and seven rebounds for Campbell (5-9, 4-3), while Ledell Eackles had 14 points and five assists. Comerlee Poole pulled down a team-high nine rebounds to go along with eight points.

Simon Conn led Gardner-Webb with 20 points on 10-of-11 shooting, plus nine rebounds, but was scoreless for a 13-minute stretch in the second period when Campbell took the lead for good. Brian Bender added 18 points and T.J. McCullough 10, plus seven assists for the Bulldogs (6-8, 3-4), who lost their third-straight outing – all at home.

The lead switched hands 18 times and the score was tied on 12 other occasions before Eackles' short bank shot with 9:00 remaining put Campbell in front for good (52-50) and started the decisive flurry. Bishop and Eackles then canned threes, Bishop hit a pair of foul shots and Latham scored in transition as CU extended its edge to 62-50 with 6:26 left.

GWU answered with an 11-2 rally, capped by T.J. McCullough's steal and lay-in with 4:26 to go, but the Bulldogs got no closer until Bender's three at the final horn. Conn's bucket in the paint gave Gardner-Webb a 43-41 lead with 13:48 to go in the game, but the 6-foot-9 senior did not score again until he got his last basket of the evening with 41.9 seconds left.

Campbell, which entered the game shooting just 64.6 percent as a team from the line, made 21 of its first 24 free throws before finishing 21-27 from the stripe (.778). Eackles, who shot just 46.7 percent from the foul line through the first 13 games, hit 7-of-8 Friday night.

The Fighting Camels ended a five-game losing streak against their in-state A-Sun rivals after suffering a pair of losses by a total of five points last year when GWU shared the league regular season title and advanced to the league tourney final.

Campbell also posted the team's first consecutive wins on the road since a pair of 3-point wins at Florida Atlantic and Central Florida in Feb. 2001.

Bishop hit 3-straight threes over the last 1:47 of the first half and the Camels led 34-30 at the break. The lead swapped hands 12 times and was tied on seven other occasions in the opening period as Bishop (11) and Latham (9) scored 20 of Campbell's 34 points.

The Fighting Camels shot 50 percent (13-26) in the second half, 16-of-22 from the line, and finished shooting 41.7 from the floor on the night. Gardner-Webb shot 51.7 percent (30-58) from the floor on the game, but had 19 turnovers. Campbell won the battle of the boards 38-33.

Campbell hosts Florida Atlantic Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. [ Box Score ]