Box Score JACKSON, Tenn. -- Some may say this Campbellsville University men's basketball team is using some smoke and mirrors to string together three wins over the top teams in the TranSouth Athletic Conference. But whether or not you believe in tricky schemes on the court, there's no denying the mirror the Tigers are putting on last year's championship season.
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Just like last season, Campbellsville traveled to Jackson, Tenn., to take on a Top 10 Union University team Monday for the fifth game of the season. Entering the game at 3-1 for the second straight year, No. 17 Campbellsville relied on some consistent free throw shooting by its point guard to knock off No. 10 Union, 71-66.
Last year it was senior point guard
T.J. Bishop coming up in the clutch. Monday,
Shawn Savage continued to be a thorn in the side of TranSouth Athletic teams, as he hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final minute to secure the Tigers' win. He had game winners over the weekend in wins over Trevecca Nazarene and Cumberland University.
"Most of the time, he's the wrong guy to foul. He's going to step up there and make most of them," CU head coach Keith Adkins said.
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Adkins, who likes to have a tough schedule in preparation for Mid-South Conference play, couldn't have picked a tougher pre-Thanksgiving slate.
"I need to fire the guy that was in charge of this schedule," joked Adkins, who does most of the team's scheduling. "What in the world was I thinking playing Trevecca, Cumberland and Union in a four day stretch with none of them at home."
The Tigers' fifth win came with the help of 50 percent shooting by the team most of the night. CU finished the night with seven 3-pointers and 46.7 percent shooting (28-60) after hitting a shooting drought in the final five minutes of the game.
Senior post player
JaVaughn Espritt led the Tigers with a double-double 19 points and 10 rebounds on the night, while Monie Hudson had 16 and Brandon Williams had 15.
For the first 11 minutes of the game, Campbellsville and Union played within two points of each other. But once
Caleb Harris connected on a 3-pointer with 10:53 left in the first half, the Tigers took a lead it would never give up. Building an eight-point lead in the first half, 31-23, CU entered halftime up six, 35-29.
The Tigers' lead sustained through the second half, holding off a Union team that improved to 42 percent shooting late.
At the end of the night, Adkins was given one final surprise, a reminder that the W is No. 200 of his career.
"Oh man. That shows, as my dad used to say every time he got to a milestone win, "It means you've been around for a long time." I'll use his quote," said Adkins, who also credits his assistant coaches and talented players for the milestone. "The 200th win is a big honor, but it's one of those things I hope I can look back on after the season and be glad to remember because of how the season goes."
Adkins' dad knows something about milestone wins. The late Charlie Adkins had more than 800 wins as a baseball head coach at Paintsville High School and is fifth all-time in the state of Kentucky. Adkins is already has the second most wins in CU history behind the late Lou Cunningham (335).
Up next, the Tigers will host Indiana Wesleyan in their season opener, Friday at 7 p.m. for game one of the annual Lou Cunningham Classic, which Adkins started in 2000. The Tigers will also meet Brescia on Saturday at 4 p.m. and host a game between University of the Cumberlands and Indiana Wesleyan at 2 p.m. Saturday.
"We want to make sure we remember what this program started with and who got the ball rolling with Campbellsville basketball, and that's (the late) Lou Cunningham. This will be our 11
th year, and we hope everyone will come out, guys who played for him, and take notice of who started this program," Adkins said. "We're naive to think what we're doing now would be possible without what he did building the foundation of this program. We're really fortunate."
