Camels’ comeback completes sweep of Charleston Southern

by Dunn Area Sports Staff | Jan 31, 2021 | Campbell, News & Features

Ricky Clemons finishes in Campbell’s win over Charleston Southern.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)

BUIES CREEK — Cedric Henderson, Jr. led four players in double figures with 18 points and Campbell rallied to defeat Charleston Southern 75-67 in Big South Conference men’s basketball Saturday at Gore Arena.

Jordan Whitfield added 16 points, Joshua Lusane 12 (plus 12 rebounds) and Messiah Thompson 10 for the Camels (10-9, 6-6 Big South), who trailed 38-28 at halftime, but shot 60 percent from the floor after the break.

Sean Price came off the bench to lead Charleston Southern (1-15, 0-12) with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Emorie Knox added 15 and Sadarius Bowser 13 for the Bucs, who dropped their 12th straight game.

CSU closed the opening half on a 10-2 run to take its largest lead. The Camels pulled with three (47-44) on Gediminas Mokšeckas’ corner three with 10:58 remaining.

Whitfield’s deep triple with 7:51 remaining gave the Camels their first lead (53-52) since midway through the opening period and started a stretch where the Camels made seven of eight from the field.

Thompson’s drive through traffic capped that flurry and pushed the lead to 66-58 with 2:21 to play.

Phlandrous Fleming followed his missed three with a slam to cut the margin to 66-60 with 1:22 left, but the Camels knocked down 7-of-8 from the line in the last 1:20 to seal the victory.

One night after he converted a 3-point play with 10 seconds left to provide the margin in a 59-58 victory over the Bucs, Ricky Clemons scored eight points and dealt out a career-high five assists.

Henderson finished 6-of-8 from the field, including 3-of-4 from downtown, and pulled down nine rebounds. Whitfield made 7-of-13 shots and Lusane hit 5-of-8 in his second double-double performance in three games.

Campbell knocked down 6-of-12 threes in the final period, 8-of-21 (.381) for the game. The Camels finished the night 27-of-50 (.540) from the floor and made 14-of-23 shots (.609) in the final period.

CU made almost as many free throws (13-22) as CSU attempted (8-14).

After hitting 55.6 of its shots in the opening period, Charleston Southern hit just 11-of-28 (.393) in the second half to finish at 47 percent for the game. CU made 7-of-22 threes – just 2-of-11 after intermission. The Bucs finished with a 33-30 edge on the glass, but Campbell converted 15 CSU turnovers into a 16-6 edge in points off miscues.

The Camels return to action Thursday at 7 p.m. at UNC Asheville (ESPNU).

(Campbell media services provided the basis for this report)