By Jim Fenton

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The season debut of junior Josh Campbell (Plymouth, Mass.) helped spark the Bridgewater State University men's basketball in the opener of the D3hoops.com Classic on Sunday.

Campbell, who missed the first nine games due to a preseason injury, had a productive 19 minutes to help the Bears defeat Whittier College of California, 88-74, at the South Point Arena.

Campbell, the team's top scorer a year ago, had 23 points to tie for the team lead on 9 of 17 shooting.

A second-team All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference pick last season, Campbell went 3-for-7 on 3-pointers, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked a pair of shots in a reserve role.

He had 14 points on 6-for-13 minutes in 10 second-half minutes.

Senior Dante Kikuba (Framingham, Mass.) also scored 23 points for BSU, which ended a four-game losing streak by beating the Poets of the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

Kikuba was 9-for-15 from the floor and added seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Also in double figures for BSU was senior Louis Jennings (Walpole, Mass.) with 15 points plus 10 rebounds and four assists. The double-double marked Jennings' second of the season.

The Bears used a 28-8 run at the close of the first half to take control against Whittier and improve to 2-8 with their first win since Nov. 22.

The Poets, who had won four games in a row, fell to 8-3. They won the first game in Las Vegas a day earlier over Amherst College.

BSU shot 49 percent from the field and was 9-for-27 on 3-pointers. Whittier made only 36 percent of its shots and missed 25 of 30 shots from 3-point range.

The Bears held a 47-37 lead at halftime after trailing the Poets, 29-19, with 8:41 remaining before the break.

BSU scored 13 points in a row for a 32-29 lead, the run lasting just under four minutes.

Jennings had a pair of baskets and a 3-pointer, Kikuba had a basket and a foul shot and a Campbell 3-pointer put the Bears up by three with 4:36 to go.

Campbell and junior Sam Sweeney (Burlington, Vt.) hit 3-pointers for a 38-31 lead and a layup with 28 seconds left by junior Zach Taylor (Quincy, Mass.) opened the 10-point lead at halftime.

The last lead of the game for Whittier was at 29-28 late in the first half.

A layup by Jennings 1:26 into the second half put the Bears in front, 54-37. Whittier closed to 58-46 with 15:55 remaining on a free throw by junior Jonathan Duley (Rocklin, Calif.).

That 12-point margin was as close as the Poets would get the rest of the way as Campbell and Kikuba combined for 25 second-half points to lead the way.

A basket and then two foul shots by Campbell followed by a basket by senior Abdoul Bah (Lynn, Mass.) made it 64-46 less than a minute later.

Taylor pushed the lead to 20 at 82-62 with six minutes left and BSU had its largest edge at 88-66 on a Kikuba basket.

Duley scored 18 points to lead Whittier while junior Peyton Guerrero (Huntington Beach, Calif.) scored 16 points to go with five rebounds.

Junior Tochi Onyeador (Amuri, Nigeria) grabbed a team-high 17 rebounds and added nine points and four blocks.

BSU has Monday off and will conclude the two-game stay at the D3hoops.com Classic on Tuesday. The Bears face Central College of Iowa at 7 p.m.

Whittier is off until Saturday when it plays Occidental College in Los Angeles, Calif.