Box Score
by Kevin Buczek and David Shulimson
MOUNT OLIVE, N.C.-Junior guard Gerald Boston scored a career-high 34 points to lead East No. 3 seed Barton to the 2012 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament Title with a 67-60 win in the championship game against host and East No. 2 seed Mount Olive College Sunday afternoon at Kornegay Arena.
Barton (20-9) punched its ticket to the 2012 NCAA Division II National Championship with its fourth league tourney title in the last seven years. The Bulldogs will be going to the big dance for the sixth time in 16th year head coach Ron Lievense's tenure at BC.
The Southeast Regional is an eight-team tournament comprised of tournament champions from Conference Carolinas, the Peach Belt Conference and the South Atlantic Conference, with at-large bids going to the next five highest-ranked teams. Unranked teams captured two of three automatic bids as Wingate won the South Atlantic Conference championship to join Barton in the regional. Peach Belt Conference champion Montevallo was the only regionally ranked team to win its conference tournament.
The 64-team National Championship field will be unveiled during the 2012 Division II Men's Basketball Selection Show on NCAA.com at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, March 4. Barton (20-9) has a 12-4 record in its first five NCAA appearances. Mount Olive (21-8) entered the conference tournament ranked No. 6 in the Southeast Region but will now have to wait to see if it will receive an at-large bid.
Boston was named the Conference Carolinas Tournament MVP and joined senior teammates Jaren Haley and Joseph Velez on the All-Tournament Team. Craig Hayes led Mount Olive with 20 points and was named to the All-Tournament Team with teammate Derek Staton, Daniel Bailey of Queens University of Charlotte and Logan Lyle of King College.
Boston – a first-team All-Conference selection announced on Friday and the No. 2 ranked free throw shooter in the conference – hit 16-of-18 free throws.
The Trojans held a one-point halftime lead and led by four early in the second half after a pair of free throws by Dory Hines. Boston's three-pointer highlighted a run of eight unanswered Barton points as the Bulldogs grabbed a 40-36 lead with 15:54 left to play.
Jordan McCain kept a Trojan possession alive after a missed shot, outwrestling two Barton players for a loose ball and finding Hayes open underneath for a basket. Hayes sank a pair of free throws with 13:44 remaining to tie the game 42-42, but Velez's putback broke the tie and ignited another Barton scoring run.
Mount Olive went scoreless and committed four turnovers during a four-minute span as Barton built its lead to double figures. The Bulldogs capped a 12-0 run with a highlight-reel play as Haley knocked a pass away in the Trojan frontcourt and went into the stands at midcourt as he saved the ball to junior Aaron Brown, whose uncontested layup gave Barton a 54-42 lead with 9:59 left in the contest.
Staton's driving layup ended Mount Olive's scoring drought and Hayes turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play to cut the margin to single digits at 56-47 with 8:20 left. Hayes' free throw began a streak of nine consecutive Trojan points from the free throw line as Mount Olive would be held without a field goal until the final minute.
Hines, Mahamed Ibrahim and Jordan McCain combined to hit 4-of-6 attempts to pull the Trojans within 58-52 with 4:58 remaining. Free throws and a driving layup by Boston helped Barton push the lead back to eight points with 2:07 left.
Barton had a chance to extend its lead, but Kendall Hargrove blocked a shot with 1:26 left. Hines hit two free throws for Mount Olive and the Trojans got the ball back on an offensive foul. Ibrahim's putback on a missed three-point attempt pulled Mount Olive within 62-58 with 32 seconds left.
But that would be as close as the Trojans would get as Boston hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 27 seconds to seal the championship. Barton became the first team to win all three tournament games on the road since the conference adopted its current format of highest-seeded teams hosting each round in 2008.
The game got off to a torrid pace as three-pointers by McCain and Staton gave Mount Olive a 10-8 lead barely three minutes into the contest. Boston scored six of Barton's first eight points.
Hayes' layup with 12:29 left in the half broke a 13-13 tie, but the Trojans would go scoreless for nearly six minutes as Barton took its biggest lead of the half. Haley's three-pointer with 7:24 remaining capped a 9-0 run and gave the Bulldogs a 22-15 advantage.
Ibrahim's three-pointer with 6:59 left ended Mount Olive's drought and a three-pointer and layup by Hayes pulled the Trojans within 26-25 with 4:20 remaining. McCain connected on 4-of-4 free throws in the final three minutes, the last two coming with 11 seconds left to give Mount Olive a 31-30 halftime lead.
Boston had six rebounds and six steals for Barton. Velez finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Sophomore forward Evan Shelton crashed the glass for seven Bulldog boards.
Ibrahim finished with 12 points and a career-high four blocked shots for Mount Olive, while McCain added 10 points and six rebounds. Staton added nine points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Trojans. Hines pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and scored all of his eight points from the free throw line, all in the second half.
Barton shot 35.5% and held MOC to 30.2%. The Bulldogs, who are ranked first nationally in turnover margin, forced the Trojans into 17 turnovers with 11 steals while only making 11 mistakes.
