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Edwards’ 23, second-half surge power Red Devils
By GARY HOUSTEAU
CAMPBELL
Rayshawn Hicks made a basket with one second left in the third quarter to give Campbell Memorial a one-point lead Tuesday night.
The previously winless Red Devils stayed ahead of the Liberty Leopards the rest of the way for a 60-57 victory.
Junior Trey Edwards scored 14 of his game high 23 points in the second half for Campbell, including 10 of 12 from the foul line. He made seven of eight free throws in the fourth quarter.
“I was able to get to the free-throw line and knock down some free throws,” Edwards said. “It just feels great to get that first win. It’s the best feeling.”
Liberty led by as many as 12 points at 30-18 with just under three minutes remaining in the first half as Andre Bowers scored 11 of his 19 points in the first half. The Leopards went into the intermission leading 31-24. But a seven-point third period led to their downfall.
“That’s been our MO. The second and third quarter has been terrible for us and then we got to make this tremendous push to try to win the game in the fourth quarter,” said Liberty head coach Chris Kohl. “Boy, I’ll tell you what, if I had the answer to that third quarter woe I think I could be a multi-millionaire. Nothing’s clicking right now.”
Campbell not only beat Liberty on the free-throw line but on the glass as well as the Red Devils grabbed 45 rebounds, led by Tequan Muhammad who had nine. Liberty had 22.
“You can’t win a basketball game when you shoot 11 of 24 from the free-throw line, that’s 13 points that you leave on the floor,” Kohl said. “We have to do a much better job of shooting foul shots and our defense giving up second shots was just terrible tonight. They just beat us to death on the boards.”
Hicks chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds while Darion Jones had 11 points and eight rebounds for the Red Devils (1-6).
“I’m excited for these kids,” said Campbell head coach Nick Canterino. “We’ve been working hard these last couple of weeks and it feels good to finally get one. We were hoping it would come a little bit sooner, but hey, it still feels good.”
Canterino said the second half was the difference.
“We just picked up the intensity in the third quarter,” he said. “We rebounded the ball really well tonight and we attacked the hoop. Trey was awesome, just attacking the hoop and hitting his free throws. It was fun to watch. Darion really rebounded it well and Tequan played limited minutes, but he had a ton of rebounds. It was a total team effort.”
Dra Rushton had 16 points for Liberty while Dan Banks contributed nine points and 11 rebounds for the Leopards (2-5).
“[Campbell] never gave up,” Kohl said. “They kept playing hard and they went to the foul line and made their foul shots and we didn’t, and I think that was the ball game.”