Friday, February 26, 2010

The JU men’s basketball team clinched at least a share of its second straight Atlantic Sun Conference title with a second half comeback, beating Campbell, 65-52, in front of 6,543 fans on MPS Group night at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena.

JU (18-10, 14-5 A-Sun) had four players score in double figures, led by the backcourt duo of Travis Cohn and Ben Smith – who each had 15 points apiece.

The win allows Jacksonville to control its own destiny in the conference title race, needing a win over ETSU to clinch its second straight outright title, the No. 1 seed in next week’s Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and a second straight bid to the postseason.

“We showed a lot of poise tonight,” said JU head coach Cliff Warren. “The guys talked in the locker room at halftime before I went in there and made corrections. We came out and play a solid second half.

“This is just one step though. We’ve got another important game on Saturday. We’ve got to come out ready to play.”

After making a run at the end of the first half to cut the lead to three, the Dolphins took their first lead of the second half on a Smith jumper less than five minutes into the second half.

Campbell (18-10, 13-6 A-Sun) tied the game at 36 on a Junard Hartley layup, the Dolphins came back with a vengeance, going on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes – with Chris Edwards’ 3-pointer capping the run that gave JU a 52-38 lead with 7:48 left in the game.

The Camels cut the deficit to eight with 4:40 left, but JU made sure that no comeback was necessary as Cohn slammed home a 360-degree dunk to seal the win.