FORT MYERS,
Fla. -- Reed
Baker scored 26 points to lead Florida Gulf Coast to a
72-68 Atlantic Sun Conference victory over Campbell on Saturday at
Alico Arena.
FGCU (3-6, 1-1)
led 65-56 with 4:40 to go but almost blew the lead. Baker hit two
free throws with nine seconds left and Delvin
Franklin hit two more with 3.2 seconds to clinch
it.
Derrick
O'Neil added 16 points and
Franklin had 14 for the Eagles, who won despite committing 24
turnovers.
Jonathan
Rodriguez scored 12 points and Lorne Merthie had 11 for
Campbell (2-5, 0-1), which rallied from a 12-point deficit to take
a five-point lead in the second half. Miles Taylor added
nine.
Campbell
wrapped a 21-4
run around half-time and led by five. However, FGCU broke a 56-all tie with
a 9-0 run to take the lead for good.
After trailing
by 11 late in the contest, Campbell cut the lead to 65-62 with 3:04
left. Chad Thompson then cut the gap to 68-66 with 36 seconds
left. On the next possession, FGCU's Ed Rolax turned it over and
immediately committed a foul. Junard Hartley hit one of two from
the line and the Eagles again turned the ball over on the ensuing
possession.
However, facing
a one-point deficit, Campbell was unable to get off a shot, and
eventually turned the ball over with 9 seconds left. Baker and
Franklin connected on four free throws in the final seconds to seal
the victory.
The Camels
entered the game leading the A-Sun in scoring (78.7) and field goal
accuracy (.492), but hit just 42 percent of their shots. FGCU connected on 48 percent
from the floor and made 22-of-32 from the line (.688), compared to
18-of-26 (.692) for the visitors.
Campbell
continues its
two-game A-Sun swing through Florida on Monday in a 7:00 p.m.
tip-off at Stetson.