Victory Without Camby Examinations Don’t Reveal Why Umass Star Passed Out

Top-ranked Massachusetts didn’t need Marcus Camby to stay unbeaten. It had Donta Bright.

With Camby still hospitalized following his collapse before a game Sunday, Bright scored a career-high 32 points and made all 14 of his free throws as the Minutemen beat Rhode Island 77-71 Wednesday night.

Leading 52-51 with 10:42 left, Massachusetts (15-0, 4-0 Atlantic 10) scored 19 of its remaining 25 points from the foul line. Bright had two of the field goals and Edgar Padilla, who scored 14 points, had the other.

Rhode Island (9-5, 1-2) took advantage of the absence of the 6-foot-11 Camby by going inside and led most of the first half, which ended in a 36-36 tie. Its last lead was 38-36 before Massachusetts scored the next six points.

The Rams were led by Antonio Reynolds with 15 points.

Camby, one of the nation’s top players, collapsed before Sunday’s 65-52 win at St. Bonaventure. He was expected to be released from University of Massachusetts Medical Center today after extensive testing failed to find the cause but ruled out heart problems and a number of neurological problems.

Dr. Gerald Steinberg, the chief medical officer of the university’s medical center in Worcester, Mass., said in a statement Wednesday that “with a high degree of confidence,” doctors were ruling out a heart-related problem.

Screening for toxic or narcotic substances, performed at the center, was negative, according to the statement. The doctor said that tests have also eliminated a number of possible neurological sources, and added that there was no evidence of a brain tumor or stroke.

But the most significant answer remains the missing one.

“What we are left with at this time,” the statement read, “is an isolated episode of altered consciousness.”