BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Elijah McCadden and Kamari Brown combined for 33 points and Georgia Southern held off a furious Campbell rally to defeat the Camels 69-66 Wednesday night at Gore Arena.
 
The Eagles (6-4) used a late 11-0 run to build a 10-point lead (63-53) with 1:37 to go before the Camels (7-3) rallied and had a last chance three to send the game into overtime.
 
Jesus Carralero led four Camels in double figures with 16 points, plus eight rebounds.  Jordan Whitfield added 14 points and five assists, Cedric Henderson, Jr. 11 points and seven boards and Messiah Thompson 10 points for CU.
 
McCadden finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, plus eight rebounds.  Brown had 16 points, including 4 threes.  Tre Cobbs added 10 points for the Eagles, who shot 48 percent from the floor, made 8-of-24 (.333) threes and 11-of-18 (.611) from the line.
 
Trailing 33-30 at the break, Campbell opened the second period on a 14-4 run and led 44-37 on Whitfield's floater with 13:15 to play.  Gedi Juozapaitis hit a pair of treys in a 10-0 GSU run to give the Eagles a 3-point edge.
 
Campbell responded and reclaimed the lead on Austin McCullough's wing three with 7:20 to play.  However, the Camels missed their next six shots and were scoreless over the next 5:47 while the Eagles scored 11 unanswered points.
 
Cobbs' free throws gave GSU a 63-53 edge with 1:37 to play before Henderson's pullup three trimmed the gap to seven (63-56) five seconds later.  The Eagle margin was still nine (68-59) after Cobbs made a pair from the line with 51.3 seconds to go. 
 
However, Georgia Southern turned it over three times and made 1-of-2 from the stripe in the final 43.6 seconds while Thompson scored on a driving layup then hit a triple with 20.6 seconds to cut the gap to 69-64.  After McCullough tied up Juozapaitis to force a held ball with 15.4 remaining, Carralero scored at the rim to trim the margin to 69-66 with 9.7 left.
 
Campbell trapped Brown in the corner and the Eagle guard lost possession.  McCullough grabbed the loose ball and launched a contested trey that drew iron but bounced off as the final horn sounded.
 
The Camels shot 43 percent from the floor (25-58), made 9-of-23 (.391) beyond the arc and 7-of-9 from the line.  Carralero finished 7-of-12 from the floor, dealt three assists and added two steals and a pair of blocks.
 
NOTES:

• Campbell has held all 10 of its opponents below 70 points and ranks first in the Big South in scoring defense.
• Wednesday's loss ended a 10-game home court win streak that extended to last season.

• The Eagles are guided by 2nd-year head coach Brian Burg, who spent 2009-13 as an assistant coach at Campbell.  Georgia Southern has wins over Ball State, South Florida and lost by just two (61-59) at Georgia Tech.
• Campbell returns to action next Wednesday (Dec. 22) with a 12 noon start at UNC Wilmington.