CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Tigers concluded their Thanksgiving Classic Saturday night with a tightly fought win over the Indiana University Southeast Grenadiers 80-74.
Coming off a convincing win the night before, the Tigers were looking to come out strong and were able to do so. Campbellsville kept the lead in the game until around the 10-minute mark when the Grenadiers wrested control. First half turnovers again plagued the Tigers as they put up 11 and only forced five. Behind those mistakes, IU Southeast held on to the lead up until the closing seconds when
Javaughn Smith nailed a buzzer-beating three to tie the contest at 38.
Outside of turnovers, the largest impact on the game was the rebound totals and assists. The Tigers came up with 19 total rebounds in the opening half compared to just 12 for the Grenadiers.
Jarius Key led the way with nine of those rebounds and nearly had himself a first half double-double chipping in eight points as well. Four Tigers had logged a three-point make and Smith himself was four-for-four before the halftime buzzer.
It wouldn't take long into half number two for Key to record that double-double. Still, the Grenadiers held fast, and their offense didn't slow. Then, with 13 minutes remaining in the game,
Darius Harding made two huge back-to-back threes to give the Tigers a 55-54 lead. Campbellsville's defense then put the clamps on and forced many tough shots while converting nearly 50% of their own. The Tigers showed their focus in the second half and maintained a steady point distance from IU Southeast in the latter half.
The turnovers that plagued Campbellsville in the first half slowed to a crawl as the Tigers recorded only three in the last half. The bench also came up big ending with 26 points as Smith led with 13. Key posted a career-high of 18 points, a career-high tie of 11 rebounds, and four assists ushering the Tigers to a battle-from-behind victory.
The Campbellsville University men's basketball team will now head to Murray State University on Monday to face the Racers at 8 p.m. ET.
