BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Messiah Thompson scored a career-high 15 points to lead Campbell to a 70-61 win over Gardner-Webb Monday at Paul Porter Arena.
 
In his first career start, Thompson tallied all of his points in the first half and finished 5-of-8 from 3-point range as Campbell (5-5, 1-2 Big South) ended a five-game losing streak.
 
Ricky Clemons came off the bench to score all 11 of his points in the second half, while Jordan Whitfield and Austin McCullough added 10 points apiece for the Camels, who made 10-of-22 threes.  Jesús Carralero added 7 points, 5 rebounds and a career-high 6 assists.
 
Jacob Falko led Gardner-Webb (2-6, 1-2) with 18 points, while freshman Anthony Selden had 16, including 4-of-9 threes.  Freshman D'Maurian Willams added 12 points in his first start.  The Runnin' Bulldogs, played a second-straight game without the Big South's fifth-leading scorer, Lance Terry, who sat out with an injury.
 
Williams put Gardner-Webb in front 37-36 on a bucket with 15:17 to play before Campbell responded with an 11-0 run to push the gap to double figures (47-37) on Carralero's triple with 12:51 to play.  The Camels made 10-straight shots at one point in the second half and Milos Stajcic's triple provided CU with its largest lead (61-47) with 6:57 remaining.
 
The hosts rallied with a 14-3 flurry and Falko's free throws with 1:36 left trimmed the margin to 64-61.  After the teams swapped misses, Whitfield's floater with 21.9 seconds remaining narrowly beat the shot clock.  Williams and Cornwall missed threes on GWU's final two possessions and Whitfield knocked down four from the line in the final nine seconds to provide the final margin.
 
Campbell was also missing a pair of regulars in sophomore center Joshua Lusane and freshman wing Gediminas Mokšeckas, but finished the game shooting 47 percent (26-55) from the floor, including 54 percent in the second half.  Campbell made 8-of-10 from the line and the CU reserves, including a season-high 9 points from Stajcic, outscored Gardner-Webb's bench 20-4.
 
Gardner-Webb finished 24-of-52 (.462) from the field, made 8-of-27 (.296) threes and 5-of-5 from the line.  Campbell, which entered the game as the Big South leader in turnover margin (+3.6), committed just 8 miscues, compared to 12 turnovers for the hosts.
 
A sophomore from Atlanta, Thompson hit his first three long-range shots and reached his career high with 15 points before intermission. GWU took a 24-17 lead on Williams' free throws with 7:41 to play in half, but Thompson and Carralero connected from downtown to start a 15-4 burst.
 
Campbell made 6-of-14 (.429) triples in the opening period and led 32-30 at the break.
 
The Camels, who have now won three of their last four games at GWU, and Runnin' Bulldogs complete the two-game series Tuesday in a 3:00 p.m. start that will air on ESPN+.