BUIES CREEK, N.C. - Lorne Merthie scored 18 of his game-high 21 points in the first half to lead Campbell to a 66-46 win over USC Upstate Wednesday night at Gore Arena.
The Camels (17-9, 12-5) won their fifth-straight game to produce their longest victory string since the 1999-2000 season and moved into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
CU's 12th A-Sun victory was its most in regular season league play since the program joined the conference in 1994-95.
"We won the basketball game in the first 12 minutes," said Campbell head coach Robbie Laing. "We put the press together from the get-go that ups the tempo, rather than one that just slows down the opponent. We felt like that if we got in a half-court battle with a 7-foot-plus center and slugged it out, that wouldn't be to our advantage."
Campbell jumped to a 13-2 edge early; then pushed the margin to 10 on a pair of Junard Hartley free throws with 7:19 left in the opening half. USC Upstate never cut the gap to single digits thereafter.
Merthie's 6th triple (which set a new career high) pushed the Camel advantage to 19 (41-22) with 3:55 to go in the period.
The Camels led by 18 at half-time (43-25) and by as many as 26 late in the contest and improved their home record to 11-3 this season.
"We got a lot of steals that led to easy buckets and Merthie was special during that early run," said Laing. "I was really pleased with our kids and their approach coming off the quick turnaround after playing Monday."
The Camels entered the game ranked fourth nationally in steals (10.48) and produced 15 thefts - second-highest in the league this year to CU's 16 against Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 16.
Merthie made his first 5 threes and had 6 of his career-high 7 triples at the break. On the night, he canned 7-of-9 from long range. Jonathan Rodriguez added 15 points, including 9-of-9 from the line, and 8 rebounds. Amir Celestin came off the bench to score 11, while Miles Taylor chipped in 9 points and tied his career-high with 10 boards. Junard Hartley dealt 7 assists and made 4 steals with only 1 turnover in 29 minutes.
CU held Upstate (5-21, 5-12) to 37 percent shooting and forced 19 Spartan turnovers, which the Camels turned into 21 points. The Camels grabbed a 37-26 edge on the glass and produced 15 second-chance points off 14 offensive rebounds.
Campbell shot just 39 percent from the floor, but made 20-of-23 from the line (.870), while Upstate went to the stripe only seven times and made five.
Josh Chavis led Upstate with 12 points on 4-of-9 from 3-point range, while Ryan LeGates added 10. Seven-foot-3 center Nick Schneiders had 8 points, 6 rebounds and 4 blocks for the Spartans, who dropped their second-straight game.
Campbell concludes its four-game home stand on Friday in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off against East Tennessee State in the A-Sun/CSS-TV Game of the Week. The contest marks the final home playing appearance for Camel seniors William Kossangue, Jonathan Rodriguez, Miles Taylor and Kyle Vejraska.
