JOHNSON CITY, TENN. – Kevin Tiggs scored 21 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and East Tennessee State took sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference Thursday night with a 79-60 win over Campbell at Memorial Center.

After the Camels drew within 40-37, ETSU broke open a tight contest with a 17-4 run to claim its sixth win in seven contests. Mike Smith added 22 points and six rebounds for the Bucs (14-5, 8-1). Courtney Pigram, who entered the game as the A-Sun's second-leading scorer (19.9) finished with just six points, but grabbed seven rebounds and dealt six assists.

Tiggs made 7-of-9 shots in the second half, 8-of-13 for the game. The A-Sun's leading scorer (20.8) connected on 3-of-6 threes and 8-of-9 from the stripe.

William Kossangue led Campbell (7-11, 4-5) with a career-high 18 points, hitting 4-of-6 threes on the night. Junard Hartley added 11 and Matt Gwynne 9. Jonathan Rodriguez, the third-leading scorer in the league (17.6) finished with just three points in 16 minutes.

"The kids finally settled down," said Camel head coach Robbie Laing. "I kept encouraging them to grind it out, throw the ball inside, kick it back out reverse it, and we got some buckets. But in the end, we just threw it away too many times (22 turnovers) against a very talented team."

Kossangue's 3 from the right side with 18:27 remaining extended Campbell's run around intermission to 22-3 and cut the margin to 40-37, the closest the Camels had been since the 13:56 mark of the opening period.

But Tiggs hit a 3 and Greg Hamlin scored from the right blocks to start a 17-4 burst capped by Tiggs' alley oop dunk in transition that stretched the gap to 57-41 with 13:51 left.

Hartley's 3-point bucket from the right wing trimmed ETSU's lead to 64-55 with 7:32 remaining; then the sophomore guard canned a free throw to bring the Camels within eight (64-56), but the Camels drew no closer.

East Tennessee State led 40-32 at the half after making 15-of-29 (.517) shots, and 7-of-9 from the line. Mike Smith scored 15 first-half points on 5-8 shooting for the Bucs.

Campbell shot 41 percent (12-29) from the field and 4-of-11 from 3-point range in the opening half. Kossangue and Preston Dodson had six points each in the opening period, while Gwynne and Lorne Merthie added five apiece.

ETSU used a 22-4 run midway through the half to open up a 34-13 lead. The Bucs hit 13 of their first 21 shots (62 percent), while Campbell missed 12 of its first 17 in the same span. The margin stretched to 37-15 on Smith's 3-point play with 5:15 remaining as Campbell went nearly five minutes without a field goal.

However, the Camels closed the half on a 17-3 run by hitting 7 of their last 12 from the field (.583). After Smith's layup with 3:53 to play, ETSU did not connect again from the field. William Kossangue made a pair of threes in the stretch, Matt Gwynne had two buckets, while Lorne Merthie scored on a triple from the right wing and a short bank shot high off the glass with 11 seconds left.

On the night, Campbell shot 39.7 percent (23-58) from the field, while ETSU made 53 percent of its shots and held a 36-32 edge on the glass. Campbell committed 22 turnovers, but held a 26-24 edge in points off 19 ETSU mistakes.

Campbell concludes its road trip Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. start at USC Upstate.