Clemons' Record 51 Points Lead Campbell Past Asheville, 81-79
ROCK HILL, S.C. – Sophomore guard Chris Clemons scored a Big South-record 51 points to lead Campbell to a 81-79 win over No. 2 seed and defending champion UNC Asheville in the first quarterfinal game of the Big South Conference Tournament at Winthrop Coliseum on Thursday.
His total was also a school record for the Camels (16-16), who advanced to the semifinals and will play the winner of the game between No. 3 Liberty and No. 6 Radford. Campbell is the second No. 7 seed in three years to defeat the No. 2 seed in the Big South Tournament.
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Clemons, who averaged a league-leading 23.2 points a game during the regular season, became the first playerd in conference history to score at least 50 points in a game. The previous league high for any game had been 46. He made a Tournament-record 18 field goals on 32 attempts, including a Tournament-record tying eight 3-pointers. He finished 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
Asheville (23-9), which tied for the Big South regular-season title with Winthrop, had a 67-61 lead before Clemons rallied the Camels by scoring his team’s next 16 points, giving him a run of 18 straight. His three-pointer with 42.4 second remaining gave the Camels a 70-67 lead and he made a pair of free throws to give his team a 77-71 lead with 2:30 remaining.
Asheville closed to 81-79 with 1.5 seconds remaining but couldn’t get a steal on the inbounds pass.
Clemons was the only Campbell player to score in double figures. Five players scored 12 or more points for Asheville, including freshman MaCio Teague, who finished with 22.
“Chris obviously played lights out today,” said Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan. “He’s all-conference and he’s all-world in my book. I’m proud of the way he played today.
“I think my teammates did a good job finding me the ball in open areas,” said Clemons. “I did a little creating for myself, but they were very unselfish tonight in getting me the ball.” Clemons smiled when asked if he’d ever scored so many points in a game. “Never in my life, no,” he said. “Forty-one for me (in high school) is my max out.”
“They scored 53 and 56 against us and Chris almost got that by himself tonight,” said Bulldogs coach Nick McDevitt, the Big South Coach of the Year. “We didn’t play with the same sense of urgency as Campbell did and it cost us.”