Box Score by Kevin Buczek
WILSON, N.C.-Sophomore Chris Johnson hit a contested three-pointer in the final second of regulation to force overtime for Saint Augustine's College and the Falcons kept the momentum in the extra period to squeak out a 80-75 barnburner against the host Bulldogs in the nightcap of Friday's opening session of the inaugural Barton 45-Second Classic in the Dog House.
Barton was held without a field goal in the five-minute overtime period with its top two scorers in senior Jaren Haley and junior Gerald Boston on the bench fouled out and Saint Augustine's made a perfect 6-of-6 free throws in OT to seal the victory.
The Falcons (3-2 overall) will turn around and play Mount Olive College at 2 p.m. Saturday to start day two of the first annual Barton 45-Second Classic at 2 p.m. The Bulldogs (5-2) will conclude play with a showdown against Elizabeth City State University at 4 p.m. The Vikings (5-1) knocked off the Trojans (5-1) in the first game 85-80.
Junior Jon Hart made 1-of-2 free throws to give Barton its last lead, 73-72, to begin overtime but a pair of freebees by Johnson followed by a layup by sophomore Joel Kindred catapulted the Falcons in front, 76-73. Hart swished two more free throws with 1:17 left in overtime to pull the Bulldogs to within one, 76-75, but Saint Aug's regained its three point cushion with two made free throws by Kindred. Barton had a chance to tie the game with its own 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds but opted to go for a quick layup, which was missed from the left lane before junior David Brown sealed the Falcon victory with two more made free throws.
Kindred led all players with 23 points, followed closely by Brown's 19. Junior Chris Rhodes bucket 15 points and Johnson hit finished with 14. Kindred was 10-of-12 from the charity stripe and Brown was 12-of-13 as the Falcons.
Junior Joseph Velez paced Barton with 16 points. A trio of Bulldogs scored 12 points including Hart, Haley and junior Keith Manley. Hart grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double.
Boston was held without a field goal but made 7-of-8 free throws before fouling out. Haley only had two points in the first half as he battled foul trouble but he started to catch fire scoring 10 points in the second half before receiving his fifth foul in the final minute of regulation. Senior Aaron Suggs, Barton's third leading scorer, had a team-high five assists but was held to seven points on a 2-of-14 shooting performance.
Boston swished two free throws with 29 seconds left in regulation to give Barton a 70-66 lead but he then recorded his fifth foul on a made layup by Rhodes on the ensuing Falcons play. Rhodes made the free throw to complete the three-point play with 23 seconds left. Suggs answered with his own two made freebees to give BC a three point lead before Johnson forced overtime with his game-tying heroics.
Johnson received the ball in the left corner and decided to take a highly contested trey that he made as the clock ticked inside five seconds. Suggs launched a desperation shot as time expired from midcourt but the pretty accurate shot came up just short of the rim.
The contest featured 11 lead changes and seven ties. Saint Augustine's led 36-33 at halftime. Both squads shot 40% from the floor and Barton held a 39-34 rebounding edge but the Falcons took advantage of 11 more free throws making 33-of-42 (78.6%) compared to just 21-of-31 (67.7%) by the Bulldogs.
In the opener, Elizabeth City State shot 54.5% and held Mount Olive to just 39.4% en route to the five-point victory. Angelo Sharpless and Marquie Cooke both scored 20 points for the victorious Vikings while Derek Staton had a game-high 28 points for the Trojans.
