BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University men's basketball cut a late 16-point deficit all the way to four but the rally came up short in a 73-66 loss to Campbell in Tuesday night's 2013-14 home opener at the Holmes Center.

Appalachian State (0-2) trailed 64-48 with seven minutes to go but went on a 14-2 run over the next 4:38, capped by a Tab Hamilton three-pointer that cut the Campbell lead to 66-62 with 2:22 still remaining in the ballgame.

Appalachian pulled within four points on two more occasions in the waning minutes but did not get any closer as Campbell (2-0) - which did not make a field goal in the final 6:22 of the contest - made enough free throws down the stretch (7-of-12) to keep the Mountaineers at arm's length.

The Camels led by 16 points at the break as they controlled most of the first half on the strength of 50.0 percent (15-of-30) from the floor over the first 20 minutes. After Appalachian grabbed an early 4-2 lead on Tommy Spagnolo's putback with 18:33 to go in the first, Campbell would mount a 13-0 run to jump out to a 15-4 lead with 13:09 remaining in the first half.

The Mountaineers would cut the gap to as little as four points three times in the second half and trailed just 70-66 after Chris Burgess hit a layup with just 33 seconds left, but the Camels would hang on for their second-straight win of the year.

The difference in the game was free-throw shooting. Despite missing five of its final 12 attempts, Campbell finished 17-of-25 (.680) at the charity stripe while Appalachian State missed nine of its first 10 attempts and finished just 9-of-22 (.409) at the line.

Mike Neal led three Mountaineers in double-figures with 20 points, despite making just 4-of-10 free-throw attempts. Burgess scored 14 points off the bench and Hamilton added 10. Michael Obacha grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds but made just 1-of-6 free throws and finished with seven points.

D.J. Mason led the Camels with a career-best 19 points off the bench while Darius Leonard (16) and Andrew Ryan (14) each finished in double figures. The Camels shot 49.0 percent (24-of-49) in the contest while Appalachian connected on 41.9 percent (26-of-62) of its shots.

Appalachian returns to action when it travels to Cincinnati at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the third-of-four games in the Global Sports Shootout.

NOTES: Appalachian State dropped to 14-6 all-time against Campbell… Tuesday's loss was the first-ever at home to the Camels… the Apps had won eight-straight home games against CU…  the Mountaineers outscored the Camels 38-30 in the paint and 20-7 on second-chance buckets… Appalachian fell to 120-57 all-time at the Holmes Center… the Apps dropped their first-ever home opener under head coach Jason Capel (3-1)… Appalachian is 11-4 in non-conference home games under Capel... Appalachian is 0-2 to start the season for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign.