The 2009-2010 Tigers became Campbellsville University men's basketball's fifth quickest team to reach 10 wins in a season Thursday, beating Temple Baptist College, 103-41, at home in the Powell Athletic Center. It also the third best start to a season CU head coach Keith Adkins has had in his 10 years.

"That's saying a lot when it took us about four and a half months last year to get our tenth win," Adkins said of last year's 10-19 season.

"This team is not satisfied. We've got a lot of work to do. Hopefully we can take care of business against Shawnee, but coming out of the break every team thinks they have a shot at (the national tournament in) Kansas City. It's important that we continue to improve on the things we have to get better at."

Number one on the improvement list for Adkins is defensive rebounding. The Tigers grabbed 43 defensive boards in the game, a season high, but Adkins said giving up 14 offensive rebounds was not good enough.

"It's not a knock against Temple Baptist but we're bigger, stronger and more athletic to give up 14 offensive rebounds. That is by far the area we need to improve the most. We're a really good first shot defense. We've got to get it off the glass and eliminate second chances," Adkins said.

Leading the way for CU on the defensive glass was Joe Robinson, who secured 10 defensive rebounds and had 12 total to go with his 14 points. Shawn Savage led CU with 16 points, coming off 5-of-7 shooting from 3-point range and a free throw. Caleb Harris chipped in 13 and Nestor Colmenares had 12. Adrian Whelan saw the court for 19 minutes of play and scored nine points to match Jordan Benock's nine.

The spark in the game was the Christmas break addition of forward JaVaughn Espritt of Lancaster, Calif. Espritt came off the bench to score 12 points and had six rebounds.

"It was important for us to get him some significant minutes," Adkins said. "That's why we pushed the issue to get him here before the break and get him out on the floor. The opponent tonight is not what he'll see later on in the season, but it was good to simply get him a game that is not pick-up or summer league. We'll take it a step further tomorrow night, and out of the break, we expect him to be a big asset for us."

Prior to this season, Adkins has led CU to the 10-win mark quicker only twice, doing so in 11 games both in 2005-06 and 2006-07. Lou Cunningham did the same in 1980-81 en route to the Tigers' first NAIA National Tournament appearance. The Tigers' best start, 10-0, was also their best season (28-3) in 1998-99 under head coach Travis Ford.

PHOTO GALLERY


BOX SCORE


SHORT BOX

Temple Baptist College ( 5-10)
Joris Signorni 0-2 0-0 0, Donald Gordon 0-3 0-0 0, Kendall Cunningham 2-6 3-6 7, Peter Jackson 5-12 2-8 13, Darwin Toliver 0-7 0-0 0, Ron Nelson 3-9 1-2 8, Milen Kostov 1-5 0-0 2, Aric Bowling 3-8 0-0 7, Eric Head 2-8 0-1 4, Tyler Watts 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 16-63 6-17 41

Campbellsville University ( 10-3)
T.J. Bishop 2-5 0-0 5, Shawn Savage 5-8 1-2 16, Adrian Whelan 4-8 0-2 9, Jordan Benock 4-7 0-1 9, Joe Robinson 6-10 2-4 14, Brett Crittenden 2-5 0-0 5, Jonas Bohm 2-6 0-0 4, Nestor Colmenares 5-8 2-6 12, Justin Vitatoe 2-4 0-0 4, JaVaughn Espritt 6-13 0-0 12, Caleb Harris 5-7 0-1 13. Totals 43-81 5-16 103
 

SCORE BY PERIODS	1st	2nd	TOTAL
Temple Baptist College	23	18	41
Campbellsville University	44	57	101

FG%: Temple Baptist College .254, Campbellsville University .531. 3-pt FG:Temple Baptist College 3-23 (Signorni 0-2, Gordon 0-3, Cunningham 0-2, Jackson 1-1, Toliver 0-2, Nelson 1-2, Bowling 1-5, Head 0-3, Watts 0-3), Campbellsville University 12-25 (Bishop 1-2, Savage 5-7, Whelan 1-3, Benock 1-3, Robinson 0-1, Crittenden 1-3, Colmenares 0-1, Vitatoe 0-1, Harris 3-4). Rebounds: Temple Baptist College 42 (TEAM 7), Campbellsville University 61 (Robinson 12). Fouls Temple Baptist College 17, Campbellsville University 14. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Temple Baptist College 5 (Head 2), Campbellsville University 17 (Bishop 4, Colmenares 4). Steals: Temple Baptist College 5 (Toliver 2, Nelson 2), Campbellsville University 14 (Benock 4, Harris 4). Blocked shots: Temple Baptist College 4 (Cunningham 1, Toliver 1, Nelson 1, Head 1), Campbellsville University 3 (Colmenares 2). Turnovers: Temple Baptist College 24, Campbellsville University 14. Attendance: 200.