Aberdeen, SD – Stockton University (2-2) finished the two games at the Small College Basketball Champions Classic on a down note, dropping a 77-64 defeat to Saint John's (Minn.) (1-2).
DJ Campbell (Vineland/Vineland) led all players with game highs of 30 points and three steals.
Campbell tied the tournament record of 30 points, and he was named to the SCB Champions Classic All-Tournament Team after all of the games concluded on Saturday.
The Johnnies started off strong, scoring the first 11 points of the game and kept the pressure on, leading by 21-7 at the 13:24 mark before Stockton got rolling. A 14-6 run, led by three points each by
Tayvon Gaither (Mt. Laurel/Lenape),
Martin Anguelov (Cape May/Wildwood Catholic) and
Charles Sapp (Pennsville/Pennsville) sliced the advantage to 27-21.
Saint John's extended the lead to 40-23 with 3:05 left in the stanza, when Campbell scored eight straight points to cut the margin to 40-31. The teams traded baskets in the final minutes with Saint John's taking a 43-33 lead into the locker room. Campbell scored 17 of his points on 7-12 (58.3%) shooting to lead the Ospreys.
The second half saw Stockton rebound nicely. After surviving 60.0% shooting (15-25) from the Johnnies in the first half, the Ospreys scored 14 of the first 24 points of the period to slice the lead to 53-49 at 11:23.
The Ospreys kept chipping away, keeping the Johnnies close at 59-55 with 6:51 to play, but that was as close as Stockton would come. The Johnnies pulled away by outscoring Stockton 18-9 down the stretch to capture the 12-point victory.
Campbell also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds, with Gaither adding 12 points and six boards.
Blake Berg scored all 20 of his points in the first half to lead Saint John's. Teammates Kooper Vaughn and Zach Longueville tallied 17 points each, with Luke Budzyn pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds.
Stockton will open NJAC play for their next matchup on Tuesday night. The Ospreys will travel to Glassboro to face Rowan University for a 7:30 pm tip-off.
