KANSAS CITY, Mo. —
Dii'jon Allen-Jordan and
Sekou Harris put the Tigers on their backs in the second half to upset No. 10 Texas Wesleyan, 91-88, in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Harris scored 12 of the 14 points in the last three minutes of the game, half of those coming from the free throw line where he went a perfect 6-of-6. He played all 40 minutes, finishing the contest with 18 points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists.
"We play a lot of games that have runs, they have runs, we have runs — and sometimes it just comes down to who has the ball last or who makes the final run to seal it," said coach Keith Adkins. "Sekou has done a great job in the second half for us this year, Dii'jon didn't get to play much in the first half so the second half was his."
Campbellsville (22-10) shot 56-percent from the field as Allen-Jordan lead the team with 19 points (9-of-13), 12 coming in the second half to upset Texas Wesleyan (24-8). Allen-Jordan finished the game with six rebounds, two assists and three blocks.
Three other Tigers finished in double-figures — Ron Scott (15), Hagen Tyler (14) and Rob Robinson (16). Elliott Young was one rebound and one point away from recording a double-double —finishing with a team-high nine rebounds.
The Tigers started the first half using the hot hands of Tyler and Young, who hit back-to-back 3-point baskets to put CU up seven at the 14:20 mark. It forced Texas Wesleyan to call a timeout. Only six minutes into the game, CU tallied five 3s, going 5-of-6 behind the arc.
CU got the Rams down by as many as 12 points before the Texas Wesleyan exploded on a 17-9 run. At 5:48 the Rams tied the game for the third time but the two teams traded points going into halftime with CU down by one, 47-46.
The Rams came out of halftime hot and took a 10-point lead only five minutes into the second half. But the comeback Tigers worked their way back to the lead with baskets from Allen-Jordan, Scott and Harris. The team really got into sync when Robinson made back-to-back 3-point baskets, putting the Tigers up by one, 68-67.
With three minutes left, Harris went to work scoring 10 straight points for CU. Allen-Jordan finished a contested shot in the paint to put the lead in favor of the Tigers, 87-86, a lead they never let go.
The Rams averaged about 45 rebounds per game and the Tigers held them to only 35, one more than CU.
"Our goal every game is to hold our opponents to single-digit offensive rebounds," said Adkins. "They ended up with 11, close enough. That's a good number for us. It's so important, because of our lack of size, we are not the team to go in a snatch-it-off-the-front-of-the-rim like last year. We have to do more team rebounding. Elliott has done a great job of that. We lose the rebounding battle by one, but the bottom line is we hold them to 11 offensive."
CU recorded 17 assists, three more than its average on the season. CU also went 13-of-32 (40 percent) from beyond the arc — the most 3-point baskets in a game since the Tigers faced Life University on Jan. 7th.
Campbellsville will play the winner of No. 2 Hope International vs. No. 7 Dillard on Friday, March 18 at 5:30 p.m. ET.
