Thursday, March 02, 2006

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Second-seeded Belmont exploded in the second half to turn a nip-and-tuck game into a 90-76 near blowout of No. 7 Campbell in first-round action of the 2006 General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Men’s Basketball Championship on Thursday afternoon in Memorial Center.

Justin Hare led four Bruins players in double-figure scoring with 24 points. Andy Wicke added 19, Brian Collins 14 and Josh Goodwin 13. Campbell (10-19) was threatening to pull off an upset with its play through the first few minutes of the second half, but the Bruins found the range.

In just five minutes of action starting at the 11:40 mark, Belmont (19-10) sank five 3-pointers and made seven total after the break. The long-range barrage highlighted a 53-point half for the Bruins.

Behind the play of Erik Smith and Maurice Latham, the Camels led for most of the first half and refused to let the Bruins put them away down the stretch.

With the help of three first-half 3-pointers from Smith and a 25-foot halftime buzzer beater by Ledell Eackles, Campbell took a 39-37 lead into the break.

A furious exchange in the final 1:37 set the tone for the rest of the game. The fun started when Goodwin was fouled in the act of making a 3. The four-point play gave the Bruins a 35-30 lead and seemed to give the higher seed a little breathing room and a chance to go to the locker room with some momentum.

Campbell would have none of it. Smith and Ruell Pringle canned consecutive 3s to give the Camels a temporary advantage.

Belmont’s Boomer Herndon made a pair of free throws to put the Bruins back on top, but Eackles’ bomb as time expired changed things again. In all, 15 points were scored in that period.

The Camels expanded the lead to four points early in the second half, but after an exchange of baskets, Belmont put together the first serious run of the game and with it, began to pull away. Andrew Preston converted a conventional three-point play in front of 3s from Hare and Wicke. In all, a 13-1 run put Belmont up 52-44.

Campbell chipped away at the deficit and pulled to within 58-57 with 10:22 remaining before Belmont’s hot shooting closed the door. The Camels never got closer than eight points the rest of the way.

With Campbell in desperation mode, Belmont finished the game with an 11-5 run.

Smith led the Camels with 20 points, while Latham added 19 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. Eackles finished with 13 points and five assists.

For Belmont, Collins moved closer to a school record with seven assists and Herndon grabbed seven rebounds.

General Notes
• In three games this season against Campbell, Belmont scored 295 points. The 76 points surrendered was 19 points lower than 95 per game the Camels scored against the Bruins.
• No. 2 seeds are now 35-19 in A-Sun tournament play. No. 7 seeds fall to 4-24.
• Belmont now leads its all-time series with Campbell 12-1.
• After shooting 48 percent from the field, including a 7-for-12 (58 percent) effort from 3-point range, Campbell dropped to 38 percent in the second half and was only 2-for-8 from long range. Conversely, Belmont was 7-for-10 from beyond the arc and hit 53 percent of its shots overall after the break.
• Belmont committed only 10 turnovers, blocked five shots and swiped seven steals for a decided advantage in all three categories.

Belmont Notes
• Belmont improves to 3-4 in A-Sun tourney play.
• The Bruins made 11 3-pointers in all and improved to 13-1 this season when making at least nine shots from 3-point range.
• Belmont has now outshot 16 of the last 19 opponents.
• With 90 points, the Bruins improve to 10-0 when scoring at least 88 points.
• With seven assists, Brian Collins is four away from tying Dougie Webb’s single-season school record of 134. Collins also had his team-high 64th double-digit scoring effort.

Campbell Notes
• Campbell, which has its season end at 10-19, is now 1-7 all-time in A-Sun tourney play.
• At more than 83 points per game, the Camels shatter the school record for points per game average. The old mark of 75.9 was set in 1986-87.
• With a 9-for-20 effort added to the total, Campbell also set school records for 3-point shooting. The Camels finish the year 276-for-787.
• Eric Smith extended his school record for 3-pointers made to 107 and continues to lead the league in 3s per game.
• Campbell falls to 2-10 when scoring fewer than 80 points and 1-7 in games played on Thursday.