MCKENZIE, Tenn.- The
Campbellsville University's men's basketball team traveled down to Bethel University to compete against the Wildcats Thursday evening. The Tigers would halt their six-game losing streak with a 98-90 double overtime win.
The Tigers were first to put up numbers with a layup delivered from
Malachi De Sousa.
Sam Weining's three-pointer boosted the Tigers to an early five-point lead over the Wildcats.
Jarius Key came off the bench to pull up a shot from the arc to supplement the Tigers' lead. Bethel placed a couple buckets on the board and began to edge closer to Campbellsville. However,
Ross Ryan provided two consecutive long jumpers to cancel out their attempted comeback. The Wildcats managed a six-point run, but it was not enough to even the score. As eight minutes remained, Bethel took hold of their first lead of the game. The score stood at 21-20 with the Tigers trailing as
Cameron Carmical made a free throw to tie up the game. Down by five,
Keaston Brown knocked in two free throws and followed with a jump shot to bring the contest to a single point. The Wildcats produced a last second jumper to score 37-33 over the Tigers as the teams headed into halftime.
At the half, Campbellsville was outshooting Bethel with a 50% field goal percentage. Bethel was aggressive on the boards as they tallied 17 rebounds to the Tigers' 11. Ryan led his team with ten points and Broughton trailed with six. In terms of rebounds, it was a team-wide affair: Brown,
Jace Wallace, and
Darius Harding all led the way picking up two rebounds each.
Into the second half, both teams traded points with Ryan scoring in consecutive possessions. Bethel acquired the largest lead of the game of nine points over the Tigers. Wallace was rewarded two shots at the stripe after a hard shooting foul which allowed Campbellsville to be down only two possessions. Every time the Tigers would start a run of their own, Bethel would respond and pad their lead a bit. Eventually, Harding's jump shot pushed the Tigers to be down by one. As time wound down, the Tigers remained in reach of the Wildcat's lead. Both a jump shot and a dunk by De Sousa put the Tigers on top of Bethel. A game tying Wildcat layup put the game into overtime 71-71.
To start overtime,
Ross Ryan's jumper put Campbellsville in the lead. De Sousa's dunk brought the Tiger's to a six-point advantage over the Wildcats. Bethel returned with a five-point run; however, De Sousa made a basket to bring the Tigers back to the top. A foul by the Wildcat's put Brown at the stripe. The Tiger went 1-2 from the line securing a two-point lead. With four seconds remaining, the Wildcats tied it up at 80-80 for a second overtime.
Harding began the second overtime by hitting one of two free throws putting Campbellsville in the lead by one. De Sousa showed grit as he poured in six points for the Tigers in the second overtime. Pulling away, Ryan nailed two true free throws with 40 seconds to go. Harding followed his teammate with another set of made charity shots. Campbellsville broke their six-game losing streak with a win over Bethel: 98-90.
De Sousa set his season high with 23 points in tonight's match. Ryan accompanied him as he also broke his season high with 18 points. Harding joined the leader board with 15 points. Ryan established his season high in rebounds as well with nine. Campbellsville tallied 44 bench points to the 11 provided by Bethel. The Tiger's shooting improved to 57.4 percent over the course of the game.
The Tigers are on the road again this Saturday for competition against Freed-Hardeman University. The Mid-South contest is set to begin at 5 p.m. ET.
