Thursday, November 16, 2006

Contact: Stan Cole

BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Jonathan Rodriguez led five players in double figures with 17 points and Campbell defeated Coastal Carolina 83-63 in men's basketball action Thursday night in a sold-out Carter Gym.

Russ Gibson and Ledell Eackles added 14 points apiece for Campbell (2-0), while Reggie Bishop had 13 off the bench and Eric Smith chipped in 11.

Rodriguez, a freshman from Miami, Fla., who had 13 points, eight boards and seven assists in his collegiate debut on Saturday, again led the Camels with an all-court game on Thursday. He pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds and led the squad with five assists, while hitting 6-of-11 from the floor and all five of his free throw attempts.

Campbell improved to 2-0 for the first time since 1997-98.

Jack Leasure topped Coastal Carolina (0-2) with 19 points, including 5-of-10 from 3-point range. Joseph Harris came off the bench to tie his career high with 14 points, while grabbing a game-high 13 rebounds.

Coastal led by as many as nine early in the game and held a 25-20 edge with 7:25 to go in the first half. However, the Camels scored 17 unanswered points - eight by Bishop - over the next 5:21 as the Chanticleers went cold from the field, missing eight-straight shots.

Eackles sank a running 40-footer at the buzzer to put the Camels in front 40-27 at the half, capping a 30-9 rally.

Coastal was able to cut the gap to 47-40 with 14:21 to go on Moses Sonko's bucket in the lane, and trailed by just eight (53-45) with 10:25 left. However, Bishop capped a quick 7-0 run with a triple and the lead never went under double digits again. Campbell scored the last six points of the game and the 20-point decision was the largest margin of the night.

The Camels sealed their second-straight win by making 20-of-23 foul shots in the second half, 25-of-29 for the game (.862). Coastal attempted just nine shots from the line, hitting only four, for the entire contest.

Campbell shot 45.6 percent (26-57) from the floor and converted 21 Coastal turnovers into 21 points. Coastal Carolina shot 43.3 percent (26-60) from the field, 7-of-24 from 3-point territory. Campbell finished with a 36-33 advantage on the boards.

After a season-opening 106-66 win over UNC Pembroke on Saturday, Campbell is outscoring its opponents by a 94.5-64.5 margin.

Campbell concludes its three-game home stand on Monday with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against defending Colonial Athletic Association champion UNC Wilmington. [Box Score]