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BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Trey Freeman, Darren White and Rico Ferguson combined for 67 points and Campbell won its Big South Conference opener 96-82 over Liberty Thursday night at Gore Arena.
Freeman scored 28 points, White 20 and Ferguson 19 for the Fighting Camels (6-1, 1-0), who won in spite of foul trouble that limited leading scorer Eric Griffin to just one point in the first half.
Campbell shot 55.6 percent (30-54) from the field and hit 32-43 (.744) at the line to improve to 6-1 for the first time since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks in 1977-78.
Griffin, who entered the game as the Big South leader in scoring (21.2), rebounding (10.0), field goal percentage (.742) and blocked shots (2.83), finished with 9 points, 5 boards and 3 rejections in 23 minutes. Freeman, who hit 9-16 from the floor and 9-12 from the line, topped his previous high of 22 points in the season opener against Houston Baptist.
Ferguson, a sophomore from Richmond, Va., eclipsed his previous high of 12 points in the opening period when he had 13. White tallied 15 points in the second half and finished 7-9 from the line. Amir Celestin, who had 6 assists, and Andrew Ryan came off the bench to score season highs of 8 points each.
Liberty (2-6, 0-1) dropped its fifth-straight game despite career highs of 20 points and 9 rebounds from 6-foot-10 sophomore Joel Vander Pol. John Caleb Sanders added 14, while Ethan Layer (11) and David Minaya (10) each hit double figures. Jesse Sanders dealt 9 assists for the Flames, who shot 42.9 percent (27-63) from the floor and hit 24-33 (.727) from the stripe.
Thursday's game marked Campbell's first Big South regular season contest since a 74-68 win over Coastal Carolina on Feb. 26, 1994 at Carter Gym. CU was a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference from 1994-2011 before re-joining the Big South last July 1.
Campbell entered the game ranked 2nd nationally in team field goal percentage (.545) and promptly hit 60 percent (15-25) of its shots in the opening period. The Camels jumped to an early 9-2 advantage and led by as many as 8, but Liberty cut the gap to 45-41 at the break when Chene Phillips knocked down a pair from the line.
John Caleb Sanders' lay-up trimmed Campbell's lead to 47-46 with 17:22 left in the contest, but Freeman's 3-point play capped a 14-5 flurry that pushed the gap to 61-51 with 12:54 left. Liberty cut the margin to 63-60 on John Caleb Sanders' drive with 10:47 remaining.
However, the Camels answered with a 17-5 push to build their largest advantage (80-65) with 5:28 to go. The Flames were unable to cut the gap single digits down the stretch as the Camels made 10-of-12 from the line in the final 2:55.
The Camels return to action Saturday in a 1:00 p.m. tip-off at home against High Point.
