Monday, November 20, 2006

Contact: Stan Cole

BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Ruell Pringle scored a career-high 27 points and freshman Jonathan Rodriguez added a season-best 22 as Campbell rallied for a 100-94 win over UNC Wilmington Monday night at sold-out Carter Gym.

The Fighting Camels rallied from a 12-point half-time deficit to record their first win over UNCW since a 74-52 decision on Dec. 12, 1995 at Wilmington.

Campbell (3-0) hit the 100-point barrier for the second time in three games this year and for the first time over a Division I opponent since a 100-78 win on Jan. 13, 1979 at Charleston Southern.

Jake Wohlfeil added 18 points for Campbell, while Russ Gibson had all 10 of his in the second half for the Camels, who won their first three games for the first time since the 1997-98 season. Rodriguez added eight rebounds and six assists, while Ledell Eackles added five assists and made four steals, while committing no turnovers in 29 minutes.

Point guard Temi Soyebo led five UNCW (1-2) scorers in double figures with a career-high 23 points before fouling out with 1:07 left in the contest. Vladimir Kuljanin added 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeff Horowitz came off the bench to score 16. Montez Downey and Daniel Fountain each chipped in 12 for the Seahawks, who have lost two-straight after a season-opening win over Belmont.

"I think our team was looking forward to this game with great anticipation, and we came into tonight thinking we could win. I kept telling them, if you keep running, keep running, keep running, you can win this in the end," said fourth-year Campbell head coach Robbie Laing. "We're trying to establish a culture at Campbell that is different from when I got here. When you start 3-0 and beat a team that's been to the NCAA tournament four of the last seven years, it's something you need to get excited about."

UNCW led by as many as 15 in the opening half on the strength of seven three-pointers. Soyebo scored 13 of his points in the first 20 minutes, including a drive to the bucket just before the buzzer to give the Seahawks a 50-38 edge at the break.

Campbell, however, hit nine of its first 15 shots in the second period and cut the UNCW advantage to 63-62 with 12:14 remaining. Wohlfeil's three with 8:44 left tied the contest at 70, but UNCW stretched the gap back to seven (81-74) when Fountain drained a triple with 6:06 to go.

Campbell, however, responded with a 12-5 run - taking the lead for the first time since early in the opening half on Pringle's foul shots to go in front 90-89 with 2:14 to play. After Eackles was fouled on a follow shot and canned the free throw with 1:39 remaining, UNCW never got closer than three.

Campbell hit 56 percent of its shots (18-32) in the second half, and made 22-of-30 (.733) from the line in the final stanza. The Camels also converted 15 UNCW turnovers in the second period to 17 points.

For the game, the Camels made 48.5 percent (32-66) from the field and 8-of-24 (.333) threes. CU scored 28 points off 22 Seahawk miscues and had a 51-38 edge on points in the paint against the taller visitors.

On the night, Campbell made 28-of-38 (.737) from the stripe, while UNCW hit just 14-of-24 (.583) from the line. UNCW pulled down 45 rebounds, compared to 38 for the Camels, who started just one player taller than 6-foot-5.

Campbell returns to action Saturday at Radford in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off.