BOONE, N.C. – D.J. Mason scored a career-high 19 points and Campbell won in Boone for the first time as the Fighting Camels defeated Appalachian State 73-66 Tuesday night.

Darius Leonard added 16 points and Andrew Ryan 14 for the Camels (2-0), who led by 16 at the half and defeated the Mountaineers (0-2) for the third time in the last four meetings.

A sophomore from Clarkton, Mason came off the bench and hit 7-of-13 shots, 4-of-4 from the line, and pulled down 5 rebounds.  Freshman point guard Quinton Ray dealt 7 assists and made only 1 turnover in 34 minutes.

Leonard hit 6-of-7 from the floor and all 4 of his foul shots and finished in double digits for the second-straight game, despite being limited to only 15 minutes due to first-half foul trouble.  Ryan converted 4-of-7 from the floor, including 3-of-5 treys, plus 3-of-4 from the line.

Mike Neal led Appalachian with 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 4-of-10 from the line.  Chris Burgess came off the bench to score 14, while Tab Hamilton added 10.  Michael Obacha pulled down 15 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end.

Mason's steal and dunk in transition and a move down under on the following possession gave the Camels a 66-51 lead with 6:22 remaining.

However, Burgess and Hamilton hit threes to cap an 11-0 run and Appalachian drew within 66-62 with 2:22 to play.  Ryan's foul shots pushed the lead back to six with 2:17 remaining and the hosts made only one field goal the rest of the way.

The Camels hit at least one shot each time in five trips to the line over the final 1:06.  Campbell made 17-of-25 free throws on the night, compared to 9-of-22 for Appalachian.

"It's had to hold on to leads like that (16 points) on the road," said first-year Campbell head coach Kevin McGeehan.  "You know the other team is going to make it tough on you and make a run.  But we did a great job of getting rebounds and being tough down the stretch."

The Camels finished the night shooting 49 percent (24-49) from the floor, 8-of-23 (.348) from 3-point range.  Appalachian made just 42 percent (26-62) from the field and 5-of-19 (.263) beyond the arc.

Campbell made 9 of its first 14 shots and jumped to a 20-6 lead with 11:56 left in the opening half after Ryan drained a triple.  The opening burst included an 18-2 run when Campbell scored 13-straight points.

Leonard hit his first five shots and led all first-half scorers with 10 points, despite sitting out the final 13:51 of the period after picking up his second foul.

CU shot 50 percent (15-30) from the floor in the first half, and knocked down 5 triples, while Appalachian was just 10-of-33 (.303) from the field in the opening stanza, was 0-for-6 from three, and missed 7 of 8 free throws before the break.

"Our defense was a lot better today and that bodes well for the future," said McGeehan.  "I thought we could win coming in, but I couldn't be prouder of these guys.  There were moments in the second half when we could have wilted, but we didn't."

Campbell finished with 14 assists on 24 field goals and committed just 11 turnovers on the night.

"Quinton Ray did an unbelievable job of managing that game," said McGeehan of his freshman point guard.

Mason, whose previous career-best was 12 points last year at Charleston Southern, scored 12 of his 19 in the second period.

"There was a point in the game where I felt like D.J. wasn't going to let us lose," said McGeehan.  "He has been improving so much in practice; I was expecting him to have a performance like this."

CAMEL TRACKS:

·         Tuesday's game was Campbell's first in the Global Sports Shootout, a round-robin exempt tournament that takes place on campus sites.  Cincinnati, which defeated NC Central 74-61 on Friday, is the only team to play all 4 games at home.  Campbell travels to NC State (Saturday) and Cincinnati (Nov. 20), while hosting NC Central (Nov. 18).

·         On Tuesday, the Camels and Appalachian State squared off for the 7th time in 8 seasons.

·         Campbell had never won in six previous trips to Boone as a Division I member (since 1977-78).  Two years ago, CU dropped a 77-74 decision to the Mountaineers at the Holmes Center.

·         In Buies Creek, however, Campbell has won the last two vs. Appalachian by an average victory margin of 24 points.