HAMPTON, Va, (HamptonPirates.com) - The Hampton Pirates rallied from a nine-point second half deficit to defeat Campbell University 83-74 in a Big South Conference contest on Thursday night.
Hampton (9-10, 4-2) started strong jumping out to a 13-5 lead on a 3-pointer by Jermaine Marrow at the 17:07 mark. Campbell (11-9, 2-6) chipped away at the lead, tying the game twice over the next six minutes and took its largest lead of the half on a Cedric Henderson layup to hold a 25-21 advantage with 10:02 left.
The Pirates tied the game again at 27 on a pair of Ben Stanley free throws with 6:49 remaining and eventually fell behind by 33-29 with 3:41 left on a Jesus Carralero 3-pointer. Hampton scored the next six points on a dunk by Stanley, a 3-pointer and one foul shot by Marrow to lead 35-33 with 1:48 remaining. Campbell closed the half with a pair of 3-pointers by Jordan Whitfield and Austin McCullough to take a 39-35 lead at half.
The Camels continued that run to score the first five points of the second half to take their largest lead at 44-35 on a Henderson layup with 18:45 left. Hampton worked its way back into the game and took a 56-55 lead off a Stanley layup with 10:19 in the game.
Campbell took the lead back briefly on a Carralero jumper 22 seconds later, but Marrow put Hampton ahead to stay on a jumper with 9:29 left to lead 58-57. The Pirates pushed the lead to nine points on three occasions, the last being on a pair of Greg Heckstall free throws with 22 seconds left for the final 83-74.
Marrow paced Hampton with 37 points and seven assists, while Stanley had 21 points and six rebounds. Heckstall joined them in double figures with 14 points, five rebounds and three steals. The Pirates were a blistering 15-of-22 from the floor in the second half (68.2%) to finish at 28-of-52 (53.8%). They outrebounded Campbell 34-25.
Hampton is now back on the road to Radford for a 4pm tip on Saturday in Radford.
