Box Score
by Kevin Buczek
TIGERVILLE, S.C.-No. 23 NABC nationally ranked Barton College held the nation's top Division II scorer to a season-low point total while all five Bulldog starters scored nine or more points to earn a 79-65 Conference Carolinas road victory at North Greenville University on Saturday night in Hayes Gymnasium.
Senior forward Jon Hart notched his fifth double-double of the season while the backcourt trio of senior Gerald Boston (20 points), senior Aaron Brown (15 points) and junior Brian McNair (11 points) combined for 46 points as Barton improved to 10-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference.
The Bulldogs came up with 12 steals and forced the Crusaders into a total of 20 turnovers. BC doubled up the hosts, 20-10, on points off turnovers and raced out to an 18-8 surplus on fast break points.
Senior Tyshawn Patterson entered the week averaging a DII best 27.4 points per game but was held to just nine points against Barton behind a solid defensive performance throughout the Bulldogs lineup.
I think our guys played with great passion," said Barton veteran head coach Ron Lievense. "We've been working on our defensive pressure for the last couple of days and I really felt that we were superb tonight. Our perimeter players really worked hard. We had some breakdowns, we had some uncontested shots, but overall I thought our perimeter defense was spectacular. B-Mac [Brian McNair], Aaron Brown and Gerald Boston really defended well and with great passion. I also thought that Jon Hart just tremendous around the basket. He worked really hard."
Brown swished a three-pointer just 30 seconds into play and the Bulldogs never trailed. Barton made four of its five 3-pointers in the first five minutes to jump out to a 12-point lead. Freshman Chris Flemmings and Hart followed Brown before McNair connected on the fourth trey to extend Barton's early advantage to 18-6 at the 15:20 mark. The Bulldogs maintained a double figure cushion for the last 11 minutes of the half and led by as many as 18 twice before going into the halftime locker room leading 44-29. Barton then maintained a sizeable double digit lead throughout an evenly played second period before securing the 14-point win.
Hart pulled down a season-best 15 rebounds and netted 12 points en route to his fifth double-double. Boston bounced back from his zero assist game against Coker College on Tuesday with a game-high six helpers against North Greenville. Boston and Hart both made three steals to account for half of the Bulldogs thefts. Flemmings chipped in nine points including a pair of 3-pointers.
Junior Aaron Coats, junior Zach Faircloth and freshman Trey Lofton scored four points apiece to account for all 12 Barton bench points.
Both teams shot under 40-percent but BC made 18-of-23 (78.3%) free throws compared to 11-of-19 (57.9%) freebees by NGU.
Junior Keith Johnson made four 3-pointers in scoring a team-high 20 points for the Crusaders.
Coach Lievense concluded, "They're a very good basketball team. I mean they create a lot of problems because they have great perimeter play. Not just Patterson, which shows with Johnson scoring 20 on us. They are not just a one-man team. They have two or three guys that can hurt you when they get going."
Barton next plays at Conference Carolinas foe Belmont Abbey College on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
