CHARLESTON, S.C. — Chris Clemons hit a pull-up 3-pointer with 14 seconds left as Campbell rallied from a 14-point deficit in the second half to defeat Charleston Southern 73-72 Saturday at the CSU Field House.
Clemons finished with 29 points. Jordan Whitfield forced Charleston Southern’s Christian Keeling into an off-balance leaner that missed at the buzzer to give the Camels (10-8, 3-1) back-to-back Big South Conference road wins for the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Cory Gensler added 14 points and seven rebounds, while Andrew Eudy contributed 11 points, seven boards and three assists for the Camels, who held Charleston Southern to 37 percent shooting in the second half.
Keeling led CSU (7-10, 1-3) with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Travis McConico added 17 points on 7-of-9 from the field. Dontrell Shuler had 14 points and Ty Jones added 12 for the Bucs, who led for 34:27.
CSU wrapped a 14-2 run around the half and led 53-39 when Jones scored underneath with 16:09 to play. However, the Camels answered with a 17-5 burst and cut the gap to 58-56 on Clemons’ drive to the basket with 10:44 remaining.
With Eudy (the school’s all-time blocked shots leader and second-leading scorer) in the training room having a cut on his scalp closed with stitches, Keeling fed Phlandrous Fleming for a backdoor dunk with 37.4 seconds to play and a 72-68 CSU lead. Clemons missed a contested shot at the rim and Charleston Southern had the ball with a four-point lead with less than 30 seconds to play.
However, Fleming lost his balance and stepped out of bounds, then was called for a technical foul with 26 seconds remaining.
Clemons hit both free throws to trim the gap to 72-70, and the Camels were able to hold for the final shot. The senior from Raleigh saw an opening and pulled up from about 23 feet and swished his fifth 3-pointer of the game for CU’s first lead since the 6:34 mark (28-27) of the opening half.
CSU had one final opportunity, but Whitfield hounded Keeling into a tough shot; then grabbed the rebound as the horn sounded.
For the fifth-straight meeting at the “Buc Dome,” the game came down to the final moments. The last five contests between the teams in Charleston have been decided by a total of 13 points, including four, one-possession margins.
Charleston Southern hit seven of its first 11 three-point attempts and took a 27-19 edge when Keeling knocked down a pull-up triple with 8:40 left in the first period. However, the Camels responded with an 11-3 burst and tied the score at 30 on Eudy’s free throws with 5:17 remaining.
CSU led 43-37 at the break after hitting 9-of-17 threes in the opening period. Keeling had 12 first-half points on 4-of-7 beyond the arc, while McConico added 11 on 4-of-4 shooting (3-of-3 triples).
Campbell made 13-of-26 (.500) shots in the first half, including 5-of-13 (.385) from 3-point range.
Clemons scored 15 first-half points and reached double figures for the 100th-straight game, the longest active streak in the nation and 4th-longest all-time in Division I history. He became the first player in Big South Conference history to reach the 500-point barrier in all four years on a 3-point play with 15:18 to play in the opening period.
Charleston Southern entered the game second in the nation in turnovers forced (20.44 per game) and fouth in turnover margin (+5.7), but the Camels had only 11 miscues while CSU committed 12.
The Camels shot 49 percent from the floor (26-53), hit 9-of-24 threes (.375) and 9-of-12 from the line. Charleston Southern made 26-of-61 shots (.426), 12-of-30 threes (.400) and 8-of-9 from the stripe, but converted 13 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points.
Clemons now stands 19th on the NCAA Division I all-time scoring list with 2,757 points in 115 career outings.
Campbell is home Thursday to host Presbyterian in a 7 p.m. tipoff.
(Campbell media services provided the basis for this report)
