CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Campbellsville men's basketball team will continue their three-game road stretch with a trip to Lebanon, Tenn. to face the Cumberland University Phoenix for their second meeting this season.
 
The game is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. CT/9 p.m. ET or approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Lady Tigers' game against Cumberland. The voice of Tiger and Lady Tiger basketball, Matt Payton, will bring you all the action on 88.7 FM The Tiger with a video stream being provided by Cumberland.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Tigers dropped their fourth-straight game last Saturday by the slimmest of margins at Shawnee State. The Bears won 82-81 though it felt more like a four-point win for SSU as CU was able to hit a three pointer at the buzzer to make the final score 82-81. It was the third time in as many games where the Tigers held a halftime lead and were unable to hold on to that lead and come away with a victory. The Bears second half push was boosted by a large discrepancy at the free throw line. SSU shot 20 free throws in the second half, making 18 of them, while the Tigers only went to the line a total of 10 times in the game and nine times in the second half. CU center Andrew Smith led Campbellsville in the three key categories, points, rebounds and assists as Big Drew scored 26 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and dished out five assists.
 
MSC REWIND
Two games finished with a one-point margin of victory with Shawnee State and Cumberlands each won over Campbellsville and Cumberland respectively. Those were the only home teams that won as Lindsey Wilson (at Life) and Georgetown (at Pikeville) got road wins last Saturday by double digits.
 
SCOUTING CUMBERLAND
The Phoenix have gone 1-3 since their loss to the Tigers at the Powell Athletic Center on Jan. 10. They suffered an overtime loss to Georgetown and tight losses on the road against Pikeville and Cumberlands. Including the last game against Campbellsville, a single point had determined three of their last five games. Ty Sean Powell is the do-everything player for the Phoenix, leading the team in points per game (15.4), rebounds per game (8.6) and blocks (14).
 
NEARING MUST-WIN TERRITORY
In this four-game losing streak, Campbellsville has slid to last place in the Mid-South Conference standings with a 2-5 record. These next two road games will be played against the only other teams with losing records in MSC play so far. Wins in back-to-back games could push the Tigers record to 4-5 in a conference where no team can separate  themselves from the pack. Georgetown leads with a 5-2 record then four teams have three losses with Lindsey Wilson and Cumberland at four losses so far in conference play.
 
PREVIOUS MEETING: JAN. 10
The second game of the conference season for each team was a tight, defensive slugfest that saw the Tigers edge out a one-point victory at 54-53 over the Phoenix. In a game that had three lead changes and was tied two times, it came down to a final possession tip-in by Andrew Smith to give Campbellsville their one-point victory. The Tigers shot 29-percent from the field in the game and 26.1-percent and still pulled out the win as Smith's tip-in came with 18 seconds left on the clock and the Campbellsville defense was able to come away with a final defensive stop to finish the game.
 
SECOND HALF STRUGGLES
In their last three, Campbellsville has seen halftime leads disappear to second half runs by their opponent. The Tigers went into the break against University of the Cumberlands on Jan. 19 with a 16-point lead at 44-28 but the Patriots went on a 25-9 run through the nine-minute mark in the half. UC ended up beating the Tigers by a point at 77-76 but CU had to play catchup in the second half after the run by the Patriots. With not nearly as big of a lead at halftime against Pikeville, the Bears went on a 14-0 run to start the half after trailing 41-37 at half. Once again needing to come from behind, the Tigers pulled off their own 14-2 run to get back within a possession but couldn't ever take the lead back from UPike. CU only went into the break at Shawnee State with a four-point lead but instead of an early second half run for the Bears, the Tigers extended their lead before SSU was able to come back and tie the game and take the lead with a minute left in the game.
 
MATCH-UP TO WATCH - TYLER  VS. ROGAN
A match-up to keep an eye on will be hard to take your eye off of as Campbellsville's Hagen Tyler and Cumberland's Andrew Rogan spend the most minutes on the floor for their respective teams. Tyler averages 33 minutes per game for the Tigers, including spending all 40 minutes of the game against Shawnee State on the floor last Saturday. Rogan spent 38 of 40 minutes on the floor and averages 31.7 minutes per game for the Phoenix. Each player is also leading their squads in three-point shooting percentage as Tyler leads the conference at 50.3-percent and Rogan is third in the conference with a 46.1-percent mark from deep. Tyler has taken 51 more threes than Rogan and made exactly 30 more so far this season.
 
CONFERENCE STATICAL LEADERS
At this point in the season, Campbellsville's big three of Stephaun Adams, Hagen Tyler and Andrew Smith are top-two among Mid-South Conference players in a number of different categories. Adams is the league's leader in steals per game (2.4) and assists per game (5.0) while his 18.8 points per game average is good for third in the conference. Tyler is the best three-point shooter in the conference percentage-wise at 50.3 percent and his 19.6 points per game average is second in the conference. Smith is second in three categories in terms of MSC players, rebounds per game (10.5), blocks per game (2.1) and double-doubles (9).
 
VERNON ALONE IN THIRD
The Tigers win against Lindsey Wilson was monumental for head coach Brent Vernon in a variety of ways. Vernon earned a victory over Keith Adkins, whom he had worked as an assistant under for three seasons while Adkins was the head coach of Campbellsville. Vernon also moved his career win total to 55, good for third all-time in program history for head coach as he now only trails Adkins  and Lou Cunningham. Both Cunningham and Adkins are above the 300-win total with Cunningham's record of 335 wins and Adkins behind him in second at 322.
 
 
TYLER MOVING ON UP
Senior Guard Hagen Tyler currently has 1,791 points scored in his CU career, recently moving into fifth place all by himself on the all-time scoring list. By scoring 20 points against Life on Jan. 17, Tyler passed James Boulware, who had 1,723. The last time he moved spots was when Tyler moved into sixth against in the MSC opener against Georgetown as he scored 14 points, passing Cecil Eillis. Hagen entered the top-10 in scoring all-time in CU history in the season opener against Kentucky Christian. He has moved up three spots prior to that, two spots in two games as he passed Marcio Kardosh with his 20-point game on Nov. 23 then followed it up with 21 the next night to pass Ramont Smith.
 
UP NEXT
The Tigers will play one more road game at rival Lindsey Wilson before beginning a four-game home stand starting next Thursday against University of the Cumberlands.