CLINTON, S.C. – Campbell rallied from a 16-point second half deficit, but could not complete the comeback Saturday in a 76-71 loss at Presbyterian.
 
Chris Clemons scored 28 points – 22 in the second half – and became the ninth player in NCAA Division I history to reach 3,000 career points, but the Camels could not overcome a Presbyterian team that hit 10 threes and improved to 7-0 vs. Big South foes at the Templeton Center.
 
Davon Bell scored all of his 20 points in the second half for the Blue Hose (16-12, 8-5), and dealt nine assists, while hitting 13-of-14 from the line.  JC Younger came off the bench to add 17 points, including 5-of-6 threes, while Adam Flagler (14) and Cory Hightower (10) also hit double digits for PC.
 
Clemons reached the 3,000 barrier with 5:45 to play on a pullup three that capped a 22-8 Camel rally and brought CU within 59-58.  Clemons later stole the ball and fed Cory Gensler, who scored 19, for a transition layup that tied the game at 68 with 1:20 to play.
 
However, Flagler hit a jumper with 56 seconds to go to put PC back in front and the Blue Hose made 6-of-8 from the line in the final 42 seconds to seal the win.
 
Campbell (15-11, 8-4) lost for just the second time in its last six games and nearly pulled off its third comeback win from a 14- (or more) point hole in league play.
 
Gensler hit 8-of-12 shots, including 3-of-6 threes, grabbed 4 rebounds and did not commit a turnover in 37 minutes.  Despite an uncharacteristic shooting night (5-21) from the floor, Clemons knocked down all 16 of his free throws to set a school mark for highest foul shooting percentage in a game.
 
Ja'Cor Nelson added 11 points, while Isaac Chatman chipped in 9, plus a team-high 7 rebounds.  Andrew Eudy, who scored a career-high 30 in last month's 77-73 win over PC at Buies Creek, was held to just one point while battling foul trouble, but grabbed 6 boards, dealt 3 assists and blocked 3 shots to move into the top-10 on the Big South all-time rejections list (185).
 
PC knocked down 8 first-half threes and led 34-25 at the break.  The Blue Hose stretched the gap to 16 twice and led 51-36 after Hightower scored with 13:06 to go.  Gensler, Nelson and Clemons fueled the Camel rally, but Campbell only scored once from the floor – Trey Spencer's tip-in – over the last minute.
 
Presbyterian shot 46 percent from the floor – 54.5 percent in the second half – and connected on 10-of-21 threes (.476) to end a seven-game losing streak in the series with CU.  Campbell hit just 39.7 percent of its shots, 6-of-21 beyond the arc (.286), but hit 19-of-20 from the stripe (.950) as a unit and finished with a 13-2 edge in second-chance points.
 
With his 108th-consecutive double-figure scoring game, Clemons tied Sean Elliott of Arizona (1985-89) for the third-longest double-digit string in Division I history.  A senior guard from Raleigh, N.C., Clemons now has 3006 points in 123 games, just two behind Hersey Hawkins of Bradley (3008 from 1984-88), who sits in eighth place on the all-time list.
 
The nation's leading scorer, Clemons also moved into a tie with Stephen Curry of Davidson (414 from 2006-09) on the all-time 3-point field goals list.
 
Campbell fell to PC for just the fourth time in the 16-game series.  Those four losses have come by a total of 16 points.
 
The Camels return to Gore Arena Thursday (Feb. 21) to host High Point in a 9:00 p.m. tip that will air on ESPNU.