JACKSONVILLE,
FLA. - After its A-Sun regular season title hopes took a hit on
Thursday, Campbell concludes a two-game trip to Jacksonville on
Saturday in a 7:00 p.m. tip-off at North Florida.
Campbell
(18-10, 13-6) dropped a 65-52 decision to Jacksonville, which
claimed at least a share of the A-Sun crown. The Camels saw their
6-game win streak come to a close.
However,
the top five seeds in next week's A-Sun tournament at Macon, Ga.,
are still up for grabs as one-half game separates JU (14-5),
Campbell, Belmont (13-6) and Lipscomb (13-6) in the standings.
The
Camels stand 6-7 on the road this year, 5-4 against A-Sun teams.
Campbell has not been swept on a 2-game league road trip as yet
this year, winning the back end at Kennesaw State, Lipscomb and
both legs on the Stetson/Florida Gulf Coast trip.
CU
has won 6 of the last 7 meetings with North Florida, but the
Ospreys (13-16, 8-11) are much improved under 1st-year coach
Matthew Driscoll. On Nov. 27, Campbell recovered from a 15-point
half-time deficit and Kyle Vejraska's free throw with 3.1 seconds
to play provided the winning margin in a 59-58 decision at Buies
Creek.
Campbell's senior class has helped the program compile its best
four-year record in league play (36-37) since joining the A-Sun in
1994-95. CU's 56 overall victories over the last 4 seasons is the
program's most in a similar span in 14 years.
CU has already set a school record for regular season conference
wins with 13. The old mark of 12-4 came as Big South member
('93-94).
A Campbell win on Saturday at UNF would guarantee at least a 4th
seed for the Camels in the A-Sun Championship, the program's best
since the '96 club was seeded 2nd.
Jonathan Rodriguez stands 2nd among A-Sun career leaders in
rebounding (1054) and 3rd in scoring (2121).
Junard Hartley is ranked 10th in the country in assists (5.96),
15th in steals. He has produced the top single-game assists (13)
and steals (7) performances in the league this year.
Miles Taylor is averaging 11.3 points and shooting 72.2% from the
field in Campbell's 123road games.
Over the last 4 games, Lorne Merthie is averaging 15.3 points per
game and shooting 63% from 3-point range (17-27).
Campbell has won six of its last seven games against the Ospreys,
but UNF has claimed 2 of the 4 against CU in Jacksonville. The
last 5 contests between the league rivals have been decided by
five, or fewer, points.
On Nov. 27 at Buies Creek Kyle Vejraska's free throw with 3.1
seconds remaining provided the winning margin and Campbell rallied
from a 15-point half-time deficit to defeat UNF 59-58. Jonathan
Rodriguez scored 16 of his game-high 18 points in the second half
as the Camels came back from a 31-16 deficit. Stan Januska led UNF
with 16 points, including 4-7 from 3-point range. Matt Sauey came
off the bench to score 15 on 6-9 shooting with four blocks.
Campbell opened the final stanza on a 17-3 run to cut the deficit
to 34-33 by scoring 10 points off five UNF turnovers in the first
3:48.
