FARMVILLE, VA. Kyle Vejraska led six
Campbell players in double digits with 16 points and the Fighting
Camels held off host Longwood 82-80 in men's basketball action
Tuesday at Willett Hall.
Campbell (7-9) won its
second-straight game (both on the road) by shooting 56 percent from
the floor and hitting 24-of-28 free throws (86 percent), 14-of-16
in the second half.
Reggie Bishop, who hit 5-of-5
threes, added 15 points for the Camels, while Jonathan Rodriguez
chipped in 14, including 8-of-9 from the stripe, and seven
rebounds. Freshman Preston
Dodson scored a season-high 12 points and did not miss a shot,
going 4-of-4 from both the field and the line. Jake Wohlfeil (3-of-5 threes) and
Julius Perkins added 10 points each.
Junard Hartley led the Camels
with seven assists, while grabbing six rebounds.
After a one-hour, 30-minute
delay due to late-arriving officials, the Camels finally broke to a
47-32 lead with 2:44 left in the opening period. However, the Lancers (4-16) closed the
half on a 9-2 run to pull within 49-41 at the break.
After Vejraska pushed the
Fighting Camel margin to 51-41 on the first possession of the
second half, Longwood reeled off a 13-2 stretch to go in front
54-53 on Kirk Williams' lay-in with 16:01 remaining.
The lead changed hands twice
and the score was tied five times over the next 6:13 before Perkins
stole the ball and put the Camels in front for good (69-66) with an
old-fashioned 3-point play with 9:15 to go.
With just under six minutes
remaining, Bishop drove into the paint and fed Rodriguez for a
3-point play that pushed the gap to 73-67.
Longwood, however, rallied as
Williams and Kevin Swecker connected from long range to pull the
Lancers with one (79-78) with 25 seconds to play. Perkins made the second of two free
throws for a two-point Camel edge, but Billy Robinson, Jr. and
Brandon Giles could not connect on three-point attempts down in the
waning seconds.
Rodriguez then hit both foul
shots with eight seconds to go for a four-point Camel edge. The Lancers had one last gasp
when Wohlfeil fouled Ryan Bogan on a 3-point attempt with two
seconds left. Bogan made
the first two free throws, but Hartley rebounded for
Campbell.
Swecker led Longwood with 22
points, including 6-of-10 three-pointers. Williams added 19 points on 8-of-16
shooting before fouling out with 22 seconds remaining. Giles had 15 points on 5-of-13
shooting from 3-point range.
Campbell shot 64 percent (16-25) from
the floor in the opening half, hitting 7-of-11 (.636) from 3-point
distance in the span. The
Camels finished the game 25-of-45 (56 percent) from the field and
8-of-15 (53 percent) from 3-point territory.
Longwood stayed close by
converting 21 offensive rebounds into a 20-9 edge in second-chance
points. The Lancers hit 40
percent of their shots (30-of-75) and the same rate from 3-point
range (16-of-40), but made only 4-of-7 from the foul line on the
night while losing their fourth-straight game. Longwood finished with a 38-32
advantage on the glass.
The NCAA Division I
independent Lancers will visit Carter Gym for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off
on Feb. 13.
Campbell returns to Atlantic Sun
Conference play at home on Friday with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against
Gardner-Webb. The game will
be televised through much of the Southeast on CSS.