For the first time since January 2002, Campbellsville University men's and women's basketball pulled off a sweep on the road over rival Lindsey Wilson College Thursday night. After the Lady Tigers turned a 12-point deficit into an 83-67 win earlier in the evening, CU head coach Keith Adkins navigated his 14th-ranked Tigers to a 57-38 win over the Blue Raiders.

The Tigers led the first seven minutes of the game with Nestor Colmenares scoring six of CU's eight points. But once the Blue Raiders pulled ahead, it remained locked up the rest of the period, entering halftime tied 21-21. Both teams were held below 40 percent shooting in the first half, as Campbellsville shot 38 percent and Lindsey was held to 33.3 percent shooting.



"We are a defensive oriented team. We'll be successful or unsuccessful based on how we play defensively, but you can't win if we play like we played offensively in the first half," Adkins said. "But in the second half, we can beat a whole lot of people, if we can be that good offensively."

Lindsey Wilson opened the second half on a 10-2 run to take a 31-23 lead, but the Tigers were just getting going. A pair of baskets by Leon Hart and JaVaughn Espritt, accompanied by two offensive fouls by Lindsey's Ismar Neto, jump started an 8-0 run that led to the first tie of the second half, 31-31. There would only be one more tie, 33-33, after a two-handed, fast-break jam by Espritt.

" I think you saw a different game in (JaVaughn) tonight," said Adkins. "He's still where most people will be around Thanksgiving, but he's figuring it out pretty quickly. I don't think he's scratched the surface of where he's going to be."

The dunk brought the Campbellsville fans to their feet and sparked a 24-5 run over the final nine minutes. The Tigers shot 60 percent from the floor in the second half and were given their first double-figure lead, 45-33, on 3-pointer by Caleb Harris with 5:21 left to play. Harris finished with a game-high 18 points, including three 3-pointers.

"Caleb was a huge difference tonight," Adkins said. " He came in and asked me (Monday) in a very constructive and team-oriented way, 'Coach, what can I do to get more minutes?'"

Adkins answer was simply don't make mistakes and play solid defense.

" He really bought into it and had a good week of practice, and you can see it made a huge difference in his game tonight," Adkins said.

Following Harris' lead was Bishop and Colmenares with 10 points each, as Colmenares closes out his CU career unbeaten in LWC's Biggers Sports Center.

"Even though we tried to take the emotions of the rivalry out of it this week, the bottom line is it is a rivalry game. I'm glad to see Nestor, T.J. and Jordan (Benock) leave here with a win," Adkins said.

The win returns Campbellsville to first place in the Mid-South Conference standings, along with four other teams at 2-1. No. 22 Pikeville knocked off No. 7 Georgetown, 76-65, at home Thursday, while West Virginia Tech lost its first conference game on the road at the University of the Cumberlands, 75-47.

" It gives us something to get excited about. Who knows where the poll is going to be next week. I don't want our team to be solely focused on rankings, but the bottom line is when you get into the Top 25, you've got to stay there," Adkins said.

The last time Campbellsville won both the men's and women's games at Lindsey Wilson was Jan. 24, 2002, as the Lady Tigers won, 71-59, to record their 18th win of the season and  the Tigers followed with a 102-100 victory.

CU (14-5, 2-1) will host the University of Rio Grande (5-14, 0-3) on Saturday at 4 p.m. Rio enters the game on a seven-game losing skid after falling, 101-71, to St. Catharine.


PHOTO GALLERY


BOX SCORE


SHORT BOX
Campbellsville University (14-5.2-1 MSC)
T.J. Bishop 3-7 2-2 10, Shawn Savage 0-3 0-0 0, Jordan Benock 2-4 0-0 4, Joe Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Brett Crittenden 0-2 0-0 0, Jonas Bohm 0-0 0-0 0, Nestor Colmenares 5-6 0-1 10, Justin Vitatoe 1-3 2-2 5, Leon Hart 2-3 0-2 4, JaVaughn Espritt 3-5 0-0 6, Caleb Harris 4-7 7-9 18. Totals 20-41 11-16 57

Lindsey Wilson College (10-9, 1-2 MSC)
Joshua Cherry 2-4 0-0 4, Kemo Duncan 2-7 0-2 4, Cornell Thomas 0-0 1-2 1, Darren Ballou 0-2 0-0 0, Tim Parker 0-0 0-0 0, Andrija Tintor 2-10 5-7 10, Chase Spreen 0-3 1-2 1, Eric McPherson 6-9 0-0 13, Ismar Neto 1-1 0-0 2, Jeff Vories 0-0 0-0 0, Jeremiah Diebler 0-5 0-0 0, Kalen Kimberland 1-4 0-0 3. Totals 14-45 7-13 38
 

SCORE BY PERIODS	1st	2nd	TOTAL
Campbellsville University	21	36	57
Lindsey Wilson College	21	17	38

FG%: Campbellsville University .488, Lindsey Wilson College .311. 3-pt FG:Campbellsville University 6-18 (Bishop 2-4, Savage 0-3, Benock 0-2, Crittenden 0-2, Vitatoe 1-3, Harris 3-4), Lindsey Wilson College 3-14 (Cherry 0-1, Ballou 0-2, Tintor 1-2, Spreen 0-1, McPherson 1-3, Diebler 0-3, Kimberland 1-2). Rebounds: Campbellsville University 33 (Colmenares 9), Lindsey Wilson College 27 (McPherson 6). Fouls Campbellsville University 16, Lindsey Wilson College 17. Fouled out: none. Technical: none. Assists: Campbellsville University 8 (Vitatoe 3), Lindsey Wilson College 3 (Kimberland 2). Steals: Campbellsville University 8 (Colmenares 3), Lindsey Wilson College 7 (McPherson 4). Blocked shots: Campbellsville University 2 (Hart 1, Espritt 1), Lindsey Wilson College 1 (Duncan 1). Turnovers: Campbellsville University 14, Lindsey Wilson College 12. Attendance: 1050.