BUIES
CREEK, N.C. - Lipscomb reeled off a 16-2 run midway through the
second half and held off Campbell 81-76 Thursday night in men's
basketball action at Gore Arena.
Adnan Hodzic scored 22 points, while Brandon Barnes and Jordan
Burgason added 12 apiece for the Bisons (15-10, 10-6 A-Sun), who
overcame a nine-point deficit with 18:49 left and halted a two-game
losing streak.
Eric Griffin and Junard Hartley both scored career highs for
Campbell (11-14, 5-10) which played its second game without
2nd-leading scorer Lorne Merthie (knee). Griffin tallied 28 points
on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-7 threes, while adding 3 steals
and 2 blocks. Martell Jackson pulled down a game-high 7
rebounds.
Hartley scored 20 points on 7-of-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from
the line, plus 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Rico Ferguson
added 10 points and Amir Celestin 8 for the Camels, whose losing
streak reached four games, their longest of the season.
Campbell led 42-38 at the half, then Preston Dodson scored
underneath and Hartley hit a trey to push the margin to 47-38 with
18:49 to go. Jackson's bucket on the blocks gave the Camels a
51-44 edge with 15:32 to play, but CU went the next 7:04 without a
field goal.
In the meantime, Lipscomb scored 16 of the next 18 points and led
60-53 on Justin Glenn's free throws with 8:50 to go. The Bisons
lead reached 8 down the stretch, the final time on Barnes' drive
with 1:36 to play that pushed the gap to 78-70.
Consecutive threes from Griffin and Hartley cut the margin to 78-76
with 53.3 seconds to play before Josh Slater's short bank in
traffic at the end of the shot clock pushed Lipscomb's lead to
80-76 with 22.9 seconds remaining.
Griffin missed both ends of a two-shot foul opportunity, but
Hartley collected the loose ball in the left corner. However, the
senior's 3-point effort fell short; Hodzic pulled in the rebound,
and hit a foul shot for the final margin.
Lipscomb shot 54.9 percent (28-51) on the night, hit 6-of-15 (.400)
from 3-point range and 19-of-32 (.594) from the foul line and
finished with a 32-23 edge on the glass.
The Camels hit 54.2 percent (26-48) of their field goal attempts,
44 percent (11-25) in the second period, 8-of-12 threes and
16-of-22 (.727) from the line. Lipscomb finished with a 12-4
advantage in second-chance points, but CU had a 15-5 edge in points
off turnovers. Both teams had 12 miscues for the game.
Griffin (20) and Hartley (10) combined for 30 of Campbell's 42
first-half points and the Camels led 42-38 at the break. Griffin
made 7-of-8 shots, 5-of-6 from 3-point range, while Hartley hit
4-of-5 from the field.
The Camels took the lead midway through the opening stanza thanks
to an 8-2 run and led by as many as 6 before intermission. The
Camels shot 65.2 percent (15-23) from the floor in the first half
and made 5-of-7 threes, plus 7-of-8 from the line.
Hodzic scored 10 first-half points on 5-of-6 shooting. The Bisons
hit 57.5 percent (15-26) of their first-period shots, 4-of-8 from
long range, but only 4-of-10 from the stripe.
Campbell continues its home stand Saturday in a 3:15 p.m. tip-off
against league-leading Belmont (22-4, 14-1).