Posted by Chris Megginson - Sat, Feb 6, 2010 - [Men's Basketball]
Jordan Benock
Seniors Jordan Benock and T.J. Bishop can now say they've
beaten every team in the Mid-South Conference, as Campbellsville University took
down rival Georgetown College, 71-64, Saturday for the first time since the
2006 Mid-South Conference Tournament, they took down Georgetown.
"That says a lot about Georgetown's dominance. It says a lot
about how hard it is to beat them. Give our guys the credit though. I'm so
happy for them and so proud of them. We're not done, but at least they can
taste that huge win over a big rival," CU head coach Keith Adkins said.
Adkins left the Benock, Bishop and senior center Nestor Colmenares, with one
thought as they prepared for the rivalry game. "Do you want to end your career
without beating this bunch?"
The seniors responded, as Colmenares led CU with 18 points and nine rebounds,
Benock led the team with three assists and Bishop scored all nine of his points
in the final eight minutes of the game.
Campbellsville opened the game with an 11-4 lead, but it
didn't take long for Georgetown to work the game even and take the lead, 18-16,
on a fast break by Villanova transfer Casiem Drummond. It was the first of 14
lead changes in the game.
CU held Georgetown's lead to three points entering halftime, 33-30, but was
getting beat on the glass at Georgetown's end of the court. Campbellsville allowed
five Georgetown offensive rebounds in the final two minutes of the first half -
the same length of time Happy Osborne's team took the lead.
"They had 10 offensive rebounds in the half, and I told our
guys at the half, that's not good enough. We won't win if they duplicate that
in the second half, but we came back out and held them to just two in the
second half," Adkins said.
CU blew the rebound battle wide open in the second half, finishing the game
with 41 boards to Georgetown's 27. Leon Hart led the way for CU on the offensive
glass with a game-high seven offensive rebounds. Most of those offensive rebounds resulted in
points, including a put-back with 15 minutes left in the game to give CU a
38-37 lead.
With 11 minutes left to play in the game, Bowling Green native Shawn Savage hit
back-to-back 3-pointers to turn a 42-41 game into a seven-point lead, 48-41, and
the maroon Tigers never let up.
Bishop, who has been Mr. Clutch for the Tigers through
conference play, was scoreless and shooting 0-of-6 from the field through the
first 32 minutes of the game. But when Georgetown cut the lead to four points, 53-49,
with 8:29 to play, Bishop came alive. The Boynton Beach, Fla., native worked
the lead to six with a pair of free throws, then hit a 3-pointer two minutes
later to give CU its only double-figure lead of the day, 60-49.
"You don't want to deflate a kid by going up to him in the
middle of a close game and say, ‘I tell you what, that better have gone in,'
but I wanted to. When he shot that I thought, oh my goodness, but that shows
how bad he wanted to beat this bunch," Adkins said. "He kept telling me, ‘Coach
I'm going to make a play.' Up until that point he wasn't very good. He'd turned
it over a few times and was just OK defensively and he just couldn't buy one.
But he came up big and made a couple of good shots and made some free throws
down the stretch. When we needed him, the big senior was there."
Hollis Giles led Georgetown with 26 points and four steals,
while Drummond finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The win keeps Campbellsville in a two-way tie for first
place in the Mid-South, with a road trip coming up Thursday to Pikeville and a
chance to take sole possession of the top spot. Tip is 8 p.m. for the men and
is preceded by the women.