BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Cory Gensler of Campbell University has been named Big South Conference men's basketball scholar-athlete of the year in voting by league athletic communications directors.  A business administration major, Gensler has compiled a 3.74 grade-point average and is a three-time Big South Presidential Honor Roll member and three-time men's basketball all-academic team selection.
 
A senior from Cary, N.C., Gensler has played in 132 games (1st all-time at Campbell) with 125 starts (2nd).  He ranks 7th on the school's career 3-point field goals made (190) list, while ranking 6th (514) in 3s attempted.  He is 3rd all-time in minutes played (4086) and 9th in steals (141).
 
"Cory is the ultimate student-athlete," said Campbell head coach Kevin McGeehan.  "He represents everything you would want in your program on the court and in the classroom – hard work, character, integrity, responsibility and class. I could not be happier for him and more proud as his coach."
 
On Feb. 8, he became the 28th Camel to join the 1,000 point club. He is just the 62nd player in Big South history to reach 1,000 points (1093) and 500 rebounds (568). Gensler joined 2019 graduates Chris Clemons and Andrew Eudy as the only players in Campbell Division I history (since '77-78) to participate in post-season play in three-straight years (2017-19).  With 72 victories over the last four seasons, Gensler leads the most successful four-year senior class in the program's Division I era. The 2019 class, headed by Clemons and Eudy, won 69 games over its four-year span.
 
Gensler moved into 14th place on CU's Division I era (since '77-78) points list during CU's Feb. 15 game vs. Radford and by No.-25 Marshall Lovett on Campbell's all-time charts (1064 points from 1972-76) during CU's Feb. 20 game at Charleston Southern.  He enters Tuesday's Big South first round match up at UNC Asheville just 6 points shy of Corey Best (1,099 from 1994-98).
 
Extremely reliable with the ball, Gensler has averaged less than one turnover a game in his career (one for every 46.43 minutes played) and has only 88 miscues in 132 games (4086 minutes).  He leads the team this season with a 2.8 assist-turnover ratio (51 assists, 18 turnovers) and his career A-TO is 2.4.
 
"That's what we are here for, first and foremost, to get an education, to get a degree," said Gensler.  "Yes, we are here on a basketball scholarship, but we are students first."
 
This season, Gensler ranks second on the team in scoring at 10.6 points (23rd in the Big South) and leads the Camels in rebounding (4.8).  He has scored in double figures 18 times this year, including 15 double-digit outings in 18 Big South games.
 
An all-state performer, Gensler led Cary High School to the 2016 North Carolina 4-A title game and was a starter in the N.C. Coaches Association East-West All-Star game. He made 31 starts as a freshman for the Camel squad that reached the Big South title game and advanced to the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com (CIT) Invitational Tournament.
 
As a sophomore, Gensler made 33 starts for the Camels, who advanced to the College Basketball Invitational semifinals and hit the game-winning basket in CU's victory over New Orleans in the CBI quarters.
 
During his junior year (2019), Gensler started all 32 games he played for the Big South regular season champions that earned an NIT bid for the first time in school history.
 
Camels head to Asheville for Big South first round
 
With the stakes much higher and the location moved 255 miles to the west, Campbell takes on sixth-seeded UNC Asheville for the second time in four days on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. in the first round of the Hercules Tires Big South Championship.
               
The winner will advance to Thursday's 2:00 p.m. quarterfinal against third-seeded Gardner-Webb at Radford, Va.
 
On Saturday in Buies Creek, senior Trey Spencer led five Camels in double figures with 13 points in a 78-69 win over the Bulldogs.  Fellow senior Cory Gensler added 10, while freshmen Joshua Lusane (12), Messiah Thompson (11) and Jesús Carralero (11) also hit double figures.
 
The Camels (15-15, 6-12) shot 58 percent from the floor to earn a two-game, season sweep of the Bulldogs for the first time since re-joining the Big South in 2011-12.  Lavar Batts, Jr., led Asheville (14-15, 8-10) with 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting.
 
On Jan. 8 at Asheville, Jordan Whitfield scored a (then) career-high 16 points, including a pair of key free throws with 5.6 seconds to play, to lift Campbell over the Bulldogs 64-62.  Asheville rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit, but could never regain the lead against the Camels, who shot 54 percent from the floor.  Gensler added 12 points, while Ja'Cor Nelson (11) and Carralero (10) reached double figures off the bench.  Tajion Jones led the Bulldogs with 17 points, DeVon Baker had 16 and Lavar Batts 13 for Asheville, which shot just 39.7 percent.
 
Campbell closed the regular season with four wins over its final seven games.  Asheville enters Tuesday's contest 4-2 in its last six outings.
 
Big South Championship Notes

• Campbell owns a 14-16 record in Big South tourney play, 5-1 in the semifinal round and 1-4 in the finals.  The Camels are 2-3 in the Big South first round, most recently an 81-62 victory over Presbyterian in the 2017 opening round at Buies Creek.
• Since returning to the Big South from the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2011-12, Campbell owns a 5-8 record in league championship tournament play.
• UNC Asheville is 34-29 (.540) all-time in the Big South tournament and has won five titles, most recently in 2016 (at Buies Creek, N.C.). The Bulldogs have reached the final nine times - last in 2016.
• Campbell stands 2-1 all-time vs. UNC Asheville in the Big South Championship.  CU defeated the Bulldogs 79-76 in the 1987 semifinals at Savannah, Ga., before falling to the Bulldogs 93-78 in the 1989 title game at Rock Hill, S.C.  Behind Chris Clemons' league record 51 point performance, CU upset 2nd-seeded Asheville 81-79 in the 2017 quarterfinals at Rock Hill.
• In 2019, for the first time in the program's Division I history, Campbell was the top seed in its conference tournament.  CU was last seeded in the top two in 1996 when it was the 2nd seed in the Atlantic Sun Championship.
• Campbell hosted the Big South Conference men's basketball championship in 2016 for the first time in the league's history, which dates to the inaugural 1986 tournament.
• Campbell has made five appearances in the Big South Conference Tournament championship game (1987, 1989, 1992, 1994, 2017).
• The Camels won the 1992 tournament – defeating Charleston Southern 67-53 in the final at Anderson, S.C. – and earned the Big South's first automatic bid in men's basketball in 1992.
• In addition to his Big South tournament single-game tournament records for points (51), field goals (18) and three-pointers (8, tied) set in the 2017 quarterfinals against UNC Asheville, Chris Clemons also broke the Big South full tournament marks for total points (140), field goals (48) and three-point field goals (20).
• Campbell's run to the 2017 Big South final marked the 1st time since 2012 (VMI) that the 7th seed reached the Big South title game.
• The lowest seed to reach a Big South title game was Liberty, which won the 2013 crown as the 5th seed in the North Division (9th or 10th seed overall) over the South Division champ Charleston Southern 87-76.

 
Campbell-Asheville Notebook

• In its two wins over Asheville this year, Campbell's bench players outscored the Bulldog reserves by a combined 62-8.
• Seven different Camels scored in double digits vs. UNC Asheville this season.  Cory Gensler (12 at Asheville, 10 in Buies Creek) and Jesús Carralero (10, 11) reached double figures in both games.  Jordan Whitfield (16) and Ja'Cor Nelson (11) also hit double digits at Asheville, while Trey Spencer (13), Joshua Lusane (12) and Messiah Thompson (11) accomplished the feat last week in Buies Creek.
• The Camels own a 6-9 record in true road games this season, 2-7 at Big South schools.  UNC Asheville is 9-5 at Kimmel Arena and finished 5-4 in Big South games at home.
• Asheville has used just one starting lineup all season - one of two teams in Division I to employ the same starting five each game (North Texas).
• The Bulldogs underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) have scored 97 percent of the team's points this season, representing the highest percentage of underclassmen scoring in Division I.
• UNC Asheville ranks fourth in the nation in turnover margin (+5.1) and 25th in steals per game (8.4).
• Tuesday's game marks the 49th all-time between Campbell and UNC Asheville, dating to the 1967-68 season when both were members of the NAIA.  CU won 5 of the 8 meetings between the schools while the Camels were members of the Atlantic Sun Conference (1994-2011), but the Bulldogs have claimed 12 of 16 since Campbell re-joined the Big South in 2011-12.  However, the Camels have won three-straight and 4 of the last 6 with Asheville.
• UNC Asheville is now 94-35 overall and 60-23 against Big South foes within the friendly confines of Kimmel Arena, which opened for the 2011-12 season.  Campbell is 2-8 all-time at Kimmel Arena - 2-6 vs. UNC Asheville and 0-2 in the 2012 (Winthrop) and 2018 (Liberty) Big South Championships.

 
2019-20 Big South Men's Basketball All-Conference Awards 
First-Team All-Conference
Carlik Jones, G, R-Jr., Radford
Jermaine Marrow, G, Sr., Hampton
Ben Stanley, F, R-Soph., Hampton
Phlandrous Fleming Jr., G/F, Jr., Charleston Southern
Travis Fields Jr., G, Sr., Radford
 
Second-Team All-Conference
DeVon Baker, G, Soph., UNC Asheville
Nate Johnson, G, R-Jr., Gardner-Webb
Chandler Vaudrin, G, R-Jr., Winthrop
DJ Burns Jr., C, R-Fr., Winthrop
Eric Jamison Jr., G, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
 
Honorable Mention All-Conference
Hunter Hale, G, Gr., Winthrop
LJ Thorpe, F., Jr., UNC Asheville
Cory Hightower, F, Soph., Presbyterian
Jaheam Cornwall, G, Jr., Gardner-Webb
John-Michael Wright, G, Fr., High Point
 
All-Freshman Team
DJ Burns Jr., C, Winthrop
John-Michael Wright, G, High Point
Tommy Bruner, G, USC Upstate
Kareem Reid, F, Gardner-Webb
Travis Anderson, G, Charleston Southern
 
All-Academic Team
Cory Gensler, G, Sr., Campbell
Eric Jamison Jr., F, R-Sr., Gardner-Webb
Caden Sanchez, F, R-Soph., High Point
Sean Flood, G, Sr., Longwood
JC Younger, G, Sr., Presbyterian College
Chyree Walker, F, R-Soph., Radford
Jax Levitch, F, R-Jr., UNC Asheville
Nevin Zink, C, Soph., USC Upstate
Kyle Zunic, F, Jr., Winthrop
 
Player of the Year
Carlik Jones, G, R-Jr., Radford
 
Freshman of the Year
DJ Burns Jr., C, R-Fr., Winthrop
 
Defensive Player of the Year
Phlandrous Fleming Jr., G/F, Jr., Charleston Southern
 
Coach of the Year
Mike Jones, Radford
 
Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Cory Gensler, G, Sr., Campbell
 
2020 Hercules Tires Big South Men's Basketball Championship
First Round – Tuesday, March 3 – ESPN3
Game 1: #10 High Point at #7 USC Upstate, 7:00pm
Game 2: #11 Campbell at #6 UNC Asheville, 7:00pm
Game 3: #9 Presbyterian at #8 Charleston Southern, 7:00pm
 
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 5 – ESPN3 (at Radford, Va.)
Game 4: #2 Winthrop vs. #7/10 winner, 12:00pm
Game 5: #3 Gardner-Webb vs. #6/11 winner, 2:00pm
Game 6: #1 Radford vs. #8/9 winner, 6:00pm
Game 7: #4 Longwood vs. #5 Hampton, 8:00pm
 
Semifinals - Friday, March 6 – ESPN+ (at Radford, Va.)
Game 8:  Semifinals – Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6:00pm
Game 9:  Semifinals – Game 6 winner vs. Game 7 winner, 8:00pm
 
Championship - Sunday, March 8 – ESPN (at highest seed)
Game 10:  Championship – Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 1:00pm