BOILING SPRINGS – Jose Perez scored 19 points to lead five men in double figures and Gardner-Webb shot 59.6 percent to hold off top seed Campbell, 79-74, Friday night in the Big South Conference semifinals.

The Runnin' Bulldogs (22-11) advance to the Big South Championship game for the first time since joining the league in 2008-2009. No. 4 seed Gardner-Webb will travel to Radford, Va., Sunday to take on No. 2 seed Radford at 1:00 pm. The game will air live on ESPN.

DJ Laster added 17 points, Eric Jamison, Jr., scored 14 and both Jaheam Cornwall and Nate Johnson scored 10 for Gardner-Webb.

After trailing 40-38 at the half and by as many as seven in the early going of the second half, Gardner-Webb used a decisive, 16-6 run that started at the 12:41 mark. The run covered 6:09 and gave Gardner-Webb control of the game.

Laster drained a three with 12:41 to play to get things started, David Efianayi followed with a layup to trim Campbell's lead to 55-53 with 11:57 to play. Perez then tied the game with a three-pointer of his own with 11:17 to play.

Campbell (20-12) got a Corey Gensler connection from long distance to stem the tide briefly, but Efianayi gave Gardner-Webb the lead with a driving layup off a feed from Christian Turner.

Andrew Eudy hit a jumper with 7:50 left to put Campbell in front for the final time. Jamison found himself open on the ensuing possession behind the arc, and made the shot off a feed from Perez to give Gardner-Webb a lead it would not relinquish.

Four-straight points by Perez, coming on a layup and two free throws, pushed Gardner-Webb's lead to 67-61 with 5:48 to play

Back-to-back shots from long distance by Cornwall and Laster pushed the Gardner-Webb advantage to 73-63 with 3:46 to play – but Campbell would not go quietly into the night in front of a large crowd on its home court.

A 9-0 run over the next 106 seconds cut the lead all the way to 73-72 on a three-pointer by Isaac Chatman with 2:00 on the clock.

Perez made another game-changing play, grabbing his own offensive rebound for a key outback to extend Gardner-Webb's lead to 75-72 with 1:28 left. 

Three consecutive misses on the other end by Campbell, forced the Fighting Camels to foul – but time ran off as the top seed had to reach the bonus late.

Turner went to the line with 10.4 seconds left and sank two free throws to make the lead a comfortable two possessions and Cornwall made a pair of 3.4 seconds left to seal the win.

Gardner-Webb was efficient all night, scoring 36 points in the paint and overcoming foul trouble for leading scorer Efianayi – who scored just six points in his first single-digit scoring effort of the season.

The Runnin' Bulldogs were 14-of-18 at the free throw line (77.8 percent), 9-of-15 from three (60 percent) and turned the basketball over just seven times in a crisp offensive performance in hostile territory.

Eight different Gardner-Webb players scored and Perez supplemented his scoring with six rebounds and three assists. Jamison also had six rebounds to lead GWU.

Campbell was led by Clemons, the nation's leading scorer, who needed 24 shots to get to 23 points on Friday (9-of-24). The Big South's all-time leading scorer was 3-of-14 from long range and made just two free throws in 40 minutes.

The Camels got 20 points from Gensler and 18 from Chatman on the night. Eudy finished with eight points and five assists.

Campbell shot 46.0 percent from the floor (29-of-63), made 12-of-30 from deep (40 percent) and held a 32-26 rebounding edge.

Friday's effort marked the fourth-straight game that Gardner-Webb has held at least a double figures lead at some point.