Freshman guard Marcel Smith leads Huskies with 14
points.
HOUSTON, TEXAS (December 15, 2011) Houston Baptist freshman guard Marcel Smith had 14 points to lead six Huskies in
double figures as HBU ran past Campbell, 87-76, and gave head coach Ron Cottrell
his 400th career victory Wednesday night at Sharp Gym. Cottrell
extended his lead as HBU’s winningest basketball coach to 172 more than any of
his predecessors.
Smith went
3-of-7 from the field, including a 3-pointer, and went 7-of-7 from the
free-throw line for the Huskies (4-6), who have won back-to-back games for the
first time since their Great West Conference Tournament final appearance in
March 2010. Junior forward Marcus Davis and freshman guard Ronald March Jr.
added 12 points apiece, with Davis adding five rebounds.
Junior forward Art
Bernardi and junior guard Anthony Hill each chipped in with 10 points, and
Bernardi also had six rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Terry Bembry was
huge for HBU off the bench, contributing his best effort of the season with nine
points, a team-high eight rebounds, three steals and a pair of
blocks.
Eric Griffin
went 6-of-12 from the field and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line to lead
Campbell (8-2) with 21 points and pulled down eight rebounds, while Trey Freeman
shot 8-of-13 and finished with 19 points. Darren White, the nation’s
10th-leading scorer, posted a double-double with 18 points, 10
rebounds, three blocks and three steals, but was held to only 6-of-14
shooting.
HBU shot 51.7
percent from the field, its best of the season, including 7-of-16 from behind
the arc, while Campbell shot 45.6 percent from the field, but only 5-of-15 from
long range. The Huskies also hit 74.1 percent (20-of-27) from the free-throw
line, while the Camels shot only 61.3 percent (19-of-31). Campbell outrebounded
HBU, 36-33, but turned the ball over three more times, 18-15.
Campbell led
8-5 in the early going, but HBU scored seven-straight points, started by a pair
of Bernardi jumpers and capped by a Jonathan Evans 3-pointer, to go up 12-8 at
the 13:54 mark. The Huskies extended its advantage to six on March’s three-point
play on a reverse layup with 11:33 left, and Smith added a three-point play
after the Fighting Camels had gotten back to within one. Freeman answered with a
three-point play of his own, then Wright tied the game at 20 by hitting the
front end of a one-and-one with 8:44 remaining, but March nailed a trey to put
HBU back on top.
Hill restored
HBU’s six-point lead with a 3-pointer, but Freeman came back with a pair of
jumpers to get Campbell back within two. Hill drilled another three to give the
Huskies a 35-30 lead with 4:22 to go in the half, and they pushed the lead to as
many as seven on a couple of occasions before Lorne Merthie’s jumper at the
buzzer trimmed HBU’s halftime lead 40-38.
Wright opened
the second half with a three to put Campbell up by one, but Smith answered back
with a three for HBU on the other end. Davis’ dunk on an alley-oop from Smith
broke a tie, but Horton hit a three and a Freeman dunk gave the Camels a 50-47
lead with 17:15 to go.
Bembry sparked
the Huskies to a 9-0 run over the next two-and-a-half minutes with a layup, a
pair of rebounds and a steal, to take a 56-50 lead. After Campbell broke the
drought on a Wright jumper, Evans drained a three from the corner to put HBU up
by eight. March’s three with 13:06 left put the Huskies ahead, 65-56, but
Griffin’s three-point play with 7:32 on the clock sliced the Camels’ deficit to
four.
Russell’s
jumper with 6:09 left in the game gave the Huskies their largest lead of the
game at 75-65, and although HBU was held scoreless for the next four minutes,
the Fighting Camels were able to close only to within five. Davis hit baseline
jumper with 1:56 remaining and Smith hit a pair of free throws to put HBU back
up by nine.
Over the final
minute, the Huskies went 8-of-8 from the free-line and Bernardi’s breakaway slam
with 28 seconds left put an exclamation point on Cottrell’s milestone victory.
The Huskies
return to action when they hit the road to face 24th-ranked Creighton
Saturday at 7:05 p.m. at the CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Neb.
