BUIES CREEK. N.C. ? UNC Asheville's unbeaten start came to a halt Saturday at Campbell as the Fighting Camels roared to a 94-57 victory over the Bulldogs at Pope Arena.
The Bulldogs (3-1) only had one player in double figure and that was junior Sean Smith who tallied 13 points. Leading scorers' Reid Augst and John Williams were held to three points each. Freshman Chris Stephenson had a season-high nine points.
Campbell (2-1) was led by Jonathan Rodriguez with 19 points and eight rebounds. Lorne Merthie and Junard Hartley contributed 13 points each. William Kossangue added 10 points.
The Fighting Camels out-reobounded Asheville 38-21 and outscored the Bulldogs in the paint, 50-12.
“We simply weren't prepared to play today, and we let Campbell do whatever it wanted to from starting to finish,” explained UNC Asheville coach Eddie Biedenbach. “We just had a poor effort all the way through. We didn't guard anybody. We didn't do a good job on the boards. It was a tough learning experience.
“We're a young team and today we got a lesson about how to play on the road,” added Biedenbach. “Our guys got off to a nice start and had that great win on Tuesday over a young Liberty team. We experienced what Liberty did on Tuesday. Hopefully, we'll learn from today and get better over the season.”
The Bulldogs led 18-17 midway through the first half before the roof caved in on Asheville. Campbell went on an 11-0, knocking down three treys to roar to a 29-18 lead. The Camels led 42-28 at halftime. The home team went 8-of-16 from the three-point line in the opening half.
Campbell opened the second half on a 20-7 run to lead 62-35 and ended a three-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.
UNC Asheville plays at Wofford Tuesday night starting at 7 p.m.
