Box Score CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. -- Campbellsville University started out slow, but broke out to a 20-point win at home Thursday, 95-75, over Tennessee Temple University in the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Mid-East Region semifinals. The Tigers (17-15) will now host King College in the NCCAA Mid-East Championship game Saturday at 3 p.m. ET in Powell Athletic Center.



"I think it took us several minutes to shake off the effects of us not making the NAIA National Tournament. We were still hoping on that a little bit. There's going to be some level of disappointment from the guys, because they had higher aspirations, but we were able to shake that off," CU head coach Keith Adkins said. "It was also good to see us against an opponent that hadn't seen us and for us the same way. We had to adjust to some things, because we weren't quite sure what Tennessee Temple was going to bring to the table, but we were able to score enough points and do things defensively well enough to come away with a W."

The Tigers trailed by seven after five minutes of action, but went on a 17-3 run to take the lead, 23-16, with 10 minutes to play in the half. Jonas Bohm scored five unanswered points in the middle of the run to cut the once seven-point game to one, 13-12. Caleb Harris, who led CU with 19 points, gave the Tigers the lead on a pair of free throws, 17-16. From there, Campbellsville stretched its lead to seven with back-to-back 3s from Reggie Smith and Harris. Smith finished with 13 points and Bohm had nine.

"Jonas was active. The last several weeks and months, he's gone against teams that were familiar with him, but against smaller guys from Tennessee Temple, I thought he was very aggressive in his post ups. He got deep catches into the post and when he caught it, he wasn't timid at all. His footwork was good and he was able to be effective as a 6-9 post player, like we need him to be," Adkins said.

The Tiger hit six 3-pointers in the first half to help stretch the lead to 45-33 at the break. CU finished with 13 in 3s in the game, led by four from Shawn Savage. Savage hit three 3s in the second half to give him 102 for the season, the most of any NAIA Division I men's player this year. He's only the second CU player to hit 100 in a season, putting him 20 behind Shane Blevens' 1990-91 single-season record. Savage is 12th among four-year college men's basketball players this season for 3-pointers made at the NCAA Division I-III and NAIA Division I-II levels.

"Over 100 made 3's in a season is tremendous. This guy is a four-year guy for us. He has not only had a great season, but he's had a great career. I couldn't be happier for this guy. He's seen the ups and downs. He's been a starter, a back-up, a two-guard and a point. He's seen some rough seasons and he's seen a Fab Four season. He's ridden the roller coaster here at Campbellsville. He's persevered and done well. I couldn't be prouder of a guy whose done well and etched his name in the record books," Adkins said."

CU controlled the second half Thursday, out scoring Tennessee Temple by eight, 50-42, and shooting 45.7 percent. The Tigers held the Crusaders to 36 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, including 2-of-13 from 3-point range. Campbellsville out rebounded Tennessee Temple by 13, mainly on the offensive glass. JaVaughn Espritt had seven offensive and seven defensive boards to finish with a double-double 12 points and 14 rebounds. He was joined in double-figure scoring by Brett Crittenden's 12 points. Adrian Whelan had nine points for CU.

The Crusaders' offense came mainly from Lewis Leonard, who hit three 3s and had 24 points, eight rebounds. Jarrett Smith led the Crusaders on the boards with nine rebounds, 14 points, four assists and four steals. Ed Pellot-ROsa had 13 points and Uros Komadinic had 11 points to go with four blocks.

Campbellsville will go up against a strong 3-point shooter Saturday, as the Tornados' all-time leading scorer, Mark Dockery, moved into second place nation-wide in King's win over Mid-East Region third-seed Victory. Dockery now has 125 3-pointers this season.

Saturday is a rematch for the Tigers, as they lost to King, 72-63, on Feb. 16 at Powell Athletic Center. The winner of Saturday's game will advance to the eight-team NCCAA National Tournament in Oakland City, Ind., March 17-19. CU is looking for its first trip, while King is looking to return to the NCCAA Championship game for the second straight year.

"We're going to have to be better than we were tonight. King College is among the best teams we've played this season, and that means the high level NAIAs like Union University and Life (University), and also the top teams in our conference. They do everything correctly, and they do everything with 100 percent. Everything they do is with a purpose and they're really good at it," Adkins said.

"It really comes down to what do we want out of this. As a competitor, you've got a team coming in here that whipped us about a month ago. There has to be some level of motivation there, I hope. But the bottom line is, we have to be better. We made some mistakes tonight you can't make against great teams, and I think King College is a great team."

 

STAT SUMMARY

Tennessee Temple (75) - Leonard 24, Smith 14, Pellot-Rosa 13, Komadinic 11, Kemp 5, Jovanovic 4, Sanders 2, Brown 2. Totals 23-60 23-33 75.

Tigers (95) - Harris 19, Savage 16, Smith 13, Espritt 12, Crittenden 12, Whelan 9, Bohm 9, Lopez 4, Ray 1. Totals 29-63 24-32 95.

Half-time - Campbellsville 45-33.

Three-point goals - Tennessee Temple 6-23 (Leonard 3), Campbellsville 13-27 (Savage 4, Smith 3, Whelan 3, Crittenden 2, Harris).

Rebounds - Tennessee Temple 35 (Smith 9, Leonard 8), Campbellsville 48 (Espritt 14, Smith 6).

Assists - Tennessee Temple 9 (Smith 4, Leonard 3), Campbellsville 15 (Harris 5, Savage 4, Smith 3).

Steals - Tennessee Temple 14 (Smith 4, Leonard 3, Kemp 3), Campbellsville 7 (Smith 2, Harris 2).

Blocked shots - Tennessee Temple 5 (Komadinic 4), Campbellsville 2 (Bohm, Espritt).