WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

East Tennessee State Holds off Campbell 96-87 in A-Sun Men’s Hoops

Feb 26, 2008

Buies Creek, N.C. — Courtney Pigram and Mike Smith came off the bench to combine for 29 points and East Tennessee State spoiled Campbell’s final home game at Carter Gym with a 96-87 victory Monday night.

Travis Strong led six double figure scorers for ETSU with 20 points, including 4-of-10 threes. Pigram added 18, plus seven assists. Andrew Reed scored 14 points, while Jocolby Davis (12), Smith (11) and Kenyona Swader (11) also hit double figures.

ETSU (17-12, 10-5 Atlantic Sun) hit 58 percent of its shots in the second half and 55 percent for the game and held a 31-1 edge in bench scoring over the Camels (10-17, 5-9). The Bucs made 10-of-25 (.400) threes and finished with a 46-36 edge on the glass.

Campbell, which dropped its fifth-straight game, hit only 40 percent of its shots, including 8-of-18 (.286) from 3-point range. The Camels, however, converted 19 ETSU turnovers into a 23-15 advantage in points off miscues to stay close in front of a capacity crowd of 947, CU’s sixth sell-out this season.

Jonathan Rodriguez – one of six players in the nation to average more than 20 points and 10 rebounds – led Campbell with 31 points (11-of-23 from the floor) and 12 rebounds.

Senior Reggie Bishop, playing in his final home game, added 17 points, while freshman Junard Hartley chipped in a season-high 16 points, plus seven assists. Kyle Vejraska added 13 points, and Jake Wohlfeil scored 9 points in his Carter Gym finale.

The Camels started the second half on a 15-1 run that extended to 22-5 and held their largest lead (58-53) with 15:15 to play after Bishop’s three-point bucket.

However, Strong sandwiched a jumper and triple around a CU turnover and the Bucs reeled off a 31-10 flurry that pushed the gap to 84-68 with 6:17 remaining. The Camels cut the gap to seven (94-87) on Hartley’s drive with 12 seconds left that ended a 9-1 rally, but drew no closer.

Campbell missed nine of its first 10 shots, while the Bucs made 3-of-5 triples and just to a 14-2 lead over the first 5:21 of play. The Bucs led 31-17 with 7:04 left in the opening period on Strong’s pull-up three on the break before the Camels cut the margin with a 10-0 run.

ETSU, however, reeled off a 17-9 burst to close the period with a 48-36 edge at the break.

Home to Campbell basketball games since Feb. 20, 1953, Carter Gym has the second-smallest seating capacity (947) of all Division I men’s basketball arenas. The Charleston Southern Fieldhouse (790) is the only smaller building among the 341 Division I members.

Campbell will move into the John W. Pope Jr. Convocation Center and 3100-seat Gilbert Craig Gore Arena next fall.

The Fighting Camels close the A-Sun regular season this week with games at Belmont (Thursday) and Lipscomb (Saturday). The Atlantic Sun Championship tournament is Mar. 5-8 at Nashville, Tenn.