SPARTANBURG, S.C. - Campbell scored 21 points off 20 USC Upstate turnovers and defeated the Spartans 82-69 Saturday afternoon in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball action at the Hodge Center.

Jonathan Rodriguez led the Camels (8-4, 3-0 A-Sun) with a season-high 27 points and the Camels improved to 3-0 in the league for the first time since 1996-97. A senior from Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Rodriguez knocked down a career-high 4-of-7 from 3-point range, plus 7-of-9 from the line and grabbed seven rebounds plus three steals.

Preston Dodson added 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting, while Miles Taylor added 12 points and a career-high five assists for the Camels, who extended their win streak to a pair of games, including a 92-63 victory Wednesday over Appalachian State. Lorne Merthie scored nine points, and Kyle Vejraska came off the bench to tally all eight of his points in the final half.

Seven-foot-three center Nick Schneiders led Upstate (1-11, 1-2) with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting, plus nine rebounds. Josh Chavis added 13, plus six assists, but committed five turnovers for the Spartans, who shot 50 percent from the field, but made only 12-of-22 from the line. The loss was Upstate's fifth in a row.

Leading by one at the break (29-28), Campbell opened the second period on an 11-4 run (5-of-5 from the field in the span) and went up by eight points (40-32) on Lorne Merthie's three in transition with 16:37 remaining.

Carter Cook's triple brought the Spartans within 55-50 with 9:14 left, but the Camels held Upstate without a field goal for more than six minutes, while putting together a 16-2 spurt. During the decisive stretch, Upstate went 0-for-3 from the floor and committed three turnovers, while making 2-of-3 from the line.

Campbell hit 6-of-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from the line during the rally and led 71-52 after Rodriguez scored underneath with 3:11 to play. Rodriguez (1848 career points) moved into eighth place on the A-Sun career scoring list past Jonathan Pixley of Samford (1826 from 1992-97) and Kerry Blackshear of Stetson (1826 from 1992-96).

The Camels shot 49 percent from the field, 60 percent (18-30) after the break when CU notched its highest-scoring stanza (53 points) of the year. The Camels have scored at least 80 points in 3-straight games.

Campbell made 8-of-17 threes, including a career-high four from Rodriguez. CU finished with 23 assists - six from Junard Hartley and five each by Taylor and Amir Celestin - and just 13 turnovers.

Upstate made its first four shots and led 15-7 when Sharod Minus canned a 3 from the left corner with 13:55 to play in the opening half. However, the Spartans missed 12 of their next 15 shots from the field.

During a 10-minute stretch, Upstate went 1-for-9 from the field with seven turnovers and the Camels surged in front thanks to a 15-4 run. Jonathan Rodriguez hit three-consecutive three-pointers and the Camels took their largest lead of the half (27-22) on Preston Dodson's 17-foot jumper.

Rodriguez led the Camels with 11 first-half points, hitting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and 2-of-2 from the line. Schneiders had 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the opening period to pace the Spartans.

Campbell is off to its best start (8-4) since the 1993-94 club won 9 of its first 12 contests. Campbell, which has never won its first four league games since joining the league in 1994-95, continues its 3-game road stretch Thursday at Mercer in a 5:30 p.m. tip-off.