Campbellsville University point guard T.J. Bishop knocked down 6-of-6 free throws in the final 30 seconds of the game to secure a 57-50 victory over No. 11 Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

"That's senior leadership," said CU head coach Keith Adkins. "That's what you expect. T.J. is more experienced and really stepped up and got those late for us. A lot of times its not how many free throws you hit or your percentage, it's if you can hit them when they count."


The win is not only one over a Top 15 opponent, but a strong bounce back for Campbellsville from an 89-88 overtime loss to Mid-Continent University at home Saturday.

"It's a great win for a million reasons. We had a million keys coming into this game, and a lot of them had to do with improvement from the loss on Saturday," Adkins said. "When you play against ranked team, you have to look at it as an opportunity. This was an opportunity to show that we can be a Top 25 team by the time the next poll comes out."

It took the Tigers a while to claim the opportunity, missing its first nine field goals and allowing Union to build a 10-0 lead in the first six minutes. Union hit three 3-pointers in the opening minutes. Jermaine Carter ended the run with a pair of free throws at the 14-minute mark, and Jonas Bohm later scored the first field goal on the next possession.

Nestor Colmenares, who finished with 15 points and eight rebounds, pulled the Tigers to within a basket, 20-18, with six minutes to play in the half. Joe Robinson pulled the game even before the five-minute mark, 20-20. However, Union went on a 10-2 run to take a 30-22 lead into halftime.

"The way they scored 30 in the first half was offensive rebounding," Adkins said. "They were dominating us. We put that on the dry erase board at halftime and said if we can come back and compare this stat we'll know if we've won or lost."

Union had six offensive boards in the opening period and four in the second, as CU began to swing the possession battle.

CU senior Jordan Benock gave the Tigers their first lead, 35-34, on a 3-point basket four minutes into the second half, extending Campbellsville's run to 13-4 since the half. The Tigers maintained the lead the rest of the way. Union pulled within a basket late, but Bishop was unstoppable at the line to seal the upset.

Caleb Harris joined Colmenares to lead CU with 15 points.

Adkins said one key to victory was the addition of forward Leon Hart, who had missed most of the regular season games due to an eye injury.

"I think the addition of Leon Hart is huge for us, just having an extra body out there in the post who knows how to play and get rebounds. That's 20 minutes we haven't had in the post," Adkins said.

Campbellsville also improved defensively, holding Union to 50 points. The Bulldogs hit only two 3-pointers in the second half, finishing 5-of-26 in the game. CU also limited its fouls, as Union was 5-of-12 form the line.

"The way we've been going the last two games is we've been giving up too many free points and you look tonight, we gave up 5-of-12 on the road, and that's huge," Adkins said. "We were completely out of control on Saturday against Mid-Continent. Tonight, we wanted to take our positive, and most importantly our negative, emotions in check. I'm proud of my basketball team for responding."

CU (4-1) hosts its third consecutive TranSouth Athletic Conference team, No. 18 Freed-Hardeman University, at 2 p.m. Saturday.


BOX SCORE


SHORT BOX

Campbellsville University vs. Union University TN
Campbellsville University (4-1 NAIA #RV)
T.J. Bishop 0-4 6-6 6, Caleb Harris 6-14 1-1 15, Shawn Savage 2-7 0-1 5, Jermaine Carter 0-3 2-2 2, Jordan Benock 2-2 0-0 5, Joe Robinson 1-2 1-2 3, Brett Crittenden 0-3 0-0 0, Jonas Bohm 2-7 0-0 4, Nestor Colmenares 6-8 3-6 15, Leon Hart 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 20-55 13-18 57

Union University TN (3-2 NAIA #11)
Tacuma Alexander 0-0 0-0 0, Roland Banhoro 1-3 0-2 2, Velijko Petrovic 0-0 0-0 0, Antoine Joseph 1-6 1-2 3, Keith Tolliver 3-13 1-1 7, Samuel Danache 2-6 2-4 6, Greg Truvillion 8-14 0-2 18, Martez Hawkins 1-5 1-1 3, Alan North 2-4 0-0 5, Stan McNeil 2-6 0-0 6. Totals 20-57 5-12 50
 

SCORE BY PERIODS	1st	2nd	TOTAL
Campbellsville University	22	35	57
Union University TN	30	20	50

FG%: Campbellsville University .364, Union University TN .351. 3-pt FG:Campbellsville University 4-12 (Harris 2-6, Savage 1-4, Benock 1-1, Crittenden 0-1), Union University TN 5-26 (Joseph 0-3, Tolliver 0-5, Danache 0-4, Truvillion 2-4, Hawkins 0-3, North 1-2, McNeil 2-5). Rebounds: Campbellsville University 38 (Colmenares 8), Union University TN 42 (Truvillion 16). Fouls Campbellsville University 16, Union University TN 19. Fouled out: Tolliver . Technical: none. Assists: Campbellsville University 4 (Bishop 1, Harris 1, Crittenden 1, Colmenares 1), Union University TN 3 (North 3). Steals: Campbellsville University 2 (Colmenares 2), Union University TN 3 (North 2). Blocked shots: Campbellsville University 2 (Bohm 1, Colmenares 1), Union University TN 10 (Banhoro 3, Joseph 3). Turnovers: Campbellsville University 7, Union University TN 9. Attendance: 0.