BUIES
CREEK,
N.C. – Campbell held USC Upstate to just two field goals over
the last 10 minutes of the game and rallied for a 51-47 Atlantic
Sun Conference victory Saturday at the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation
Center / Gilbert Craig Gore Arena.
The Camels (12-15, 9-9 A-Sun)
trailed 39-30 after Mezie Uzochukwu scored on a jumper with 10:09
remaining, but closed the game on a 21-8 run to win their
second-straight game.
Upstate (7-20, 6-12) lost its
fourth-straight game after missing eight of its final 10 field goal
attempts and committing six turnovers in the final 9:34.
Lorne Merthie led Campbell
with 10 points, and Jonathan Rodriguez – despite scoring just
eight points on the night – hit what proved to be the winning
points on a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds to play. Rodriguez pulled down a
game-high seven rebounds, while Matt Gwynne added nine points for
Campbell, which converted 20 Spartan mistakes into a 23-3 edge in
points off turnovers.
Bobby Davis led Upstate with
14 points, while Josh Chavis added 9 on 3-of-8 threes.
Campbell shot just 32 percent from the
floor (17-of-53), but made 12-of-14 foul shots. Upstate hit just 36.7 percent (18-49)
for the game, 26.1 percent (6-23) during the second half, and hit
only 6-of-13 from the stripe (.462). Both teams finished with 35
rebounds.
The Camels rode a 10-1 flurry
to tie the score at 40-40 on Kyle Vejraska's tip-in with 4:17 to
play, but Chavis answered with a triple on the other end with 3:55
to go that put the Spartans back in front 43-40.
Preston Dodson was fouled by
Davis and landed hard going to the Camel basket with 3:46 remaining
and following the media time out, could not shoot the free throws
due to a sore elbow.
Rodriguez came off the bench and made both shots, then jumped in
front of Uzochukwu's pass at the top of the key then raced the
length of the floor for a lay-up to give the Camels a 44-43
advantage.
After Nick Schneiders made
the second of two foul shots with 2:59 left, Gwynne missed on a
jumper in the paint.
Schneiders rebounded, but was called for an offensive foul as he
cleared out a path with his elbow.
Vejraska then made a 3 from
the left wing on Junard Hartley's inbound pass to put the Camels in
front 47-44 with 2:44 to play. Davis then converted a traditional
3-point play to tie the game at 47-47 with 2:08 to go.
Davis missed with 40 seconds to go
and Chris Reynolds rebounded to give CU a chance to work for a
final shot. As the shot
clock wound down, Vejraska missed a three from the right corner,
but Rodriguez collected the carom and was fouled by Gabor Boros as
he attempted the put back.
His foul shots with 2.2
seconds to go put the Camels in front 49-47. Preston Dodson then intercepted a long
inbound pass and sank both ends of a one-and-one attempt with 0.9
seconds left for the final margin.
The Spartans led 28-24 at the
break after Campbell hit just 27.6 percent (8-of-29) of its shots
in the opening half. USC
Upstate made 12-of-26 (.462) from the floor before the break, but
committed 10 turnovers, which the Camels converted into 10
points.
Campbell hosts East Tennessee State
(18-9, 12-5) on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
