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Colleges

Northern Arizona holds off Campbell 70-62 in Global Sports Classic

Nov 24, 2012

Las Vegas — Northern Arizona shot 56 percent from the floor and held off a late Campbell rally to deal the Camels a 70-62 setback Saturday in the Global Sports Classic at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Gaellan Bewernick, Gabe Rogers and DeWayne Russell led the Lumberjacks (2-3) with 13 points each, while Max Jacobsen came off the bench to score 11.

Darren White led Campbell (2-5) with 17 points on 7-ofo-12 shooting and grabbed 6 rebounds. Trey Freeman added 15 points and 7 assists, while Marvelle Harris came off the bench to score a season-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting and pull down 8 boards.

Reco McCarter added 11 points for the Camels, who shot 41 percent (25-61) from the field, but hit just 5-of-23 threes.

Northern Arizona knocked down 6 of its first 11 three-pointers (7-19 for the game), then Rogers and Russell set up Bewernick and Jacobsen down low in the second period. The Lumberjacks finished with a 38-18 edge on points in the paint. Bewerenick grabbed a game-high 9 rebounds.

Campbell trailed by 14 with 18:25 left in the second half and cut the margin to four (53-49) with 8:53 to play when Harris scored to cap a 19-9 run.

McCarter’s three from the key trimmed the gap to 65-60 with 2:57 to play, but Jacobsen scored on the next possession and the Camels never got closer than 7 down the stretch.

“We did a lot of things well in the second half, but we’ve got to get better on both ends of the floor,” said Campbell head coach Robbie Laing. “It’s a work in progress. We got better this week, there’s a lot we can improve on. Now we have the time to sit down and address those areas.”

The Lumberjacks knocked down 6 of their first 11 threes and led by as many as 13 in the opening half, when Ben Olayinka’s tip-in gave NAU a 37-24 edge with 2:08 remaining.

Northern Arizona shot 56 percent (15-27) from the floor in the opening period, 46 percent (6-13) from 3-point range and converted 9 Campbell turnovers into 12 points. NAU’s starting backcourt of Rogers and Russell combined for 16 points (8 each) in the first period.

Campbell shot just 40 percent from the floor in the first half (12-30) and had only 8 points in the paint, while attempting just two free throws.

The Camels return home Thursday (Nov. 29) for a 7 p.m. tip-off against Newberry.