HIGH POINT, N.C. – Allan Chaney scored 19 points and Adam Weary hit two free throws with 16.7 seconds left to give High Point a 63-62 comeback win over Campbell Saturday at the Millis Center.
Campbell had the final possession, but did not get off a shot before the final buzzer.
Chaney made 9-of-13 shots, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked 4 shots for High Point (17-12, 12-4), which trailed by 14 early in the second half. Weary added 15 points and Corey Law 14 for the Panthers, who won the Big South Conference North Division and will get a bye into quarterfinal round of the
VisitMyrtleBeach.com Big South Championship next week at Conway, S.C.
Campbell (12-19, 7-9) finished third in the North Division and will meet the South Division's sixth seed, Presbyterian (8-23, 4-12) in Tuesday's first round. The winner will then face Gardner-Webb, which finished second in the South, in Thursday's quarterfinal round at The HTC Center.
Trey Freeman led Campbell (12-19, 7-9) with 19 points, including a floater in the lane with 37.4 seconds to play that put CU up 62-61. On the next possession, Weary drove the lane for a dunk, but Leek Leek was called for blocking, and the freshman guard sank both ends of a two-shot opportunity for what proved to be the final margin.
On the final possession, Darian Hooker dribbled toward the right corner, and was forced to pass to Darius Leonard, whose jumper missed, but would not have counted anyway as the officials ruled he did not release the ball until after the final horn sounded.
Marvelle Harris finished with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks for the Camels, who shot just 40 percent for the game (23-57). Hooker added 12 points.
Campbell led 41-27 with 17:46 to go on Harris' lay-up, but High Point answered with a 14-4 burst and cut the gap to 45-41 on Weary's 3-point play with 12:38 to go. Freeman's jumper put Campbell ahead 59-55 with 3:28 left, but Hooker and Leek missed shots on the next two possessions.
Chaney's driving bank shot tied the score at 59 with 1:51 left before Reco McCarter made the front end of a one-and-one with 1:37 to go. Chaney then hit a jumper from the free throw line with 1:08 to play for High Point's first lead since the 16:54 mark of the opening period to set up the final sequence.
High Point shot 51 percent (25-49) from the floor on the day and made 4-of-11 threes and 9-of-18 from the line. Campbell made 4-of-16 three-pointers and 12-of-16 from the stripe and finished with a 34-32 edge on the glass. However, High Point out-rebounded the Camels 20-11 over the final 20 minutes.
Darian Hooker hit three-pointers to start and close a 10-1 run and the Camels led by as many as 13 in the first half when Harris' free throw put CU in front 32-19 with 4:31 to play.
Campbell shot just 41 percent from the floor (13-32) in the opening period, but turned 10 offensive rebounds into a 13-2 edge in 2nd-chance points. The Camels held a 23-12 advantage on the boards and had as many offensive rebounds as High Point did on the defensive end.
High Point made 10-of-21 (.476) shots before the break, but only 3-of-10 from the line.
Campbell at High Point Notes:
- Trey Freeman has already moved into 3rd place on Campbell's single-season assists list (180) and needs only 4 to move past Dan Pogue (183 in 1995-96) into 2nd place. Pogue holds the record with 207 dishes in 1993-94. Freeman also sits 7th on CU's career assists charts (291) in less than 2 full seasons, just 3 behind 6th place Ledell Eackles (294 from 2005-07).
- The Panthers have claimed all 4 games against the Camels in High Point since CU joined NCAA I in 1977-78.
- Virginia Tech transfer Allan Chaney entered the game ranked 12th among Big South scoring leaders (14.2), 5th in rebounds (7.8), 4th in free throw percentage (.822) and 5th in field goal percentage (.509). He has been granted a 6th year of eligibility to return to High Point in 2013-14.
- The Panthers played without leading scorer and 2nd-leading rebounder John Brown, who was lost for the season with a broken metatarsal he suffered in Wednesday's loss to Radford. A Big South freshman of the year candidate, Brown was averaging 16.4 points (4th in the league) and 6.1 rebounds.
- Campbell has played the last 16 games without leading scorer Darren White, who suffered a season-ending knee injury Jan. 5. At the time of his injury, White had the 7th-highest scoring average (21.8) in the country.
- Saturday's game marked a return to the city where two Camels played prep basketball. Antonio Kalpic and Leek Leek both attended Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point.
- Red-shirt freshman center Trae Bremer made his first career start for the Camels Saturday.