Box Score
by Kevin Buczek
WILSON N.C.-Five Bulldogs scored in double figures and top-seed Barton College shot over 50-percent from the field to eliminate eighth-seeded Coker College, 80-71, in the quarterfinals of the 2013 Conference Carolinas Tournament on Monday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
The No. 3 Southeast Region ranked Bulldogs will next host fourth-seeded Belmont Abbey College in the semifinals on Thursday at 7 p.m. Barton advanced to 21-6 overall and 13-1 at home while the Cobras finish the season at 13-14 overall.
Senior point guard Gerald Boston scored a team-high 18 points; senior forward Keith Manley tallied his first double-double of the season with 16 points and a season-high 10 rebounds; junior guard Brian McNair produced game-highs of six assists and four steals to go along with 12 points; and senior forward Jon Hart and freshman guard Chris Flemmings each tacked on 10 points.
The defending tournament champions led for the final 34 minutes but Coker kept the deficit to single digits most of the way with junior Julian Nelson scoring a game-high 25 points and senior Andrew Morris netting 20 points with six made 3-pointers. Senior Sharod Williams was the Cobras third scorer in double digits with 12 points.
"Coker came in and played an outstanding game," said Barton veteran head coach Ron Lievense. "I thought that Morris came in and played his heart out and I thought Nelson and Williams also played their hearts out. I thought they played with great emotion and great intensity. They owned us on the boards and did some other amazing things tonight."
Nelson converted on a rare four-point play in the opening minute to give the Cobras the lead for nearly the first six minutes. Coker made five of its first eight shots to lead as late as 15-11 but Barton used the three-ball to keep pace. The Bulldogs scored 15 of their first 17 points on five made 3-pointers. Flemmings swished the first two and senior Jarrett Jernigan made the next. Barton's next trey of the fingertips of Boston closed the gap to 15-14 before McNair drilled his own trifecta from the right baseline immediately after a Jernigan steal and a freshman Tristan Thomas outlet pass on the transition to put the hosts up 17-15. Barton never relinquished the lead after pulling ahead and a pair of Hart free throws ended a 12-0 run that extended the Bulldogs advantage to 23-15.
Barton was unable to break away from the Cobras but a tip-in by Manley as time expired in the half sent the Royal Blue and White into the locker room leading 42-35. BC shot 46.4% in the first half including a scorching 7-of-10 (70%) from long range. Coker was held to 39.3% accuracy in the opening period.
The Bulldogs lead grew to as many as 14 a couple times early in the second half but a feisty Coker squad that defeated Barton in triple overtime a month ago in Hartsville, S.C., found itself still trailing by just seven points with 4:16 left on a Morris canned three-pointer.
After Hart made 1-of-2 free throws to extend the lead to 74-66, junior guard Favian Beard made a steal on a ball that was about to go out of bounds. Beard then alertly made a lead pass to Hart, who was able to slam down the fast break opportunity that electrified the home crowd. Coker attempted to answer quickly with a three-pointer but Manley was able to secure the rebound off the errant attempt and senior Aaron Brown made a layup on the ensuing play to cap momentum shifting sequence that put BC up 78-66 heading into the final two minutes.
The Bulldogs shot even better in the second half making 15-of-27 (55.6%) field goal attempts to finish the night at a sizzling 50.9% including 58.8% (10-17) from deep. Coker also shot over 50% in the second half to finish at 45.3%.
The Cobras out-rebounded Barton 32-27 but they committed 20 costly turnovers compared to just 11 mistakes by the Bulldogs.
Coach Lievense concluded, "I thought that we defended well at times. We hit some shots that we needed to hit. We started to go to the basket a little bit more to get some easy baskets whether it was the drive or the dump down. We got some crucial stops when we needed to get them. In the first half, they had 14 points in the paint to our four, so in the second half we did a better job closing that in to where it was only a six point difference. We also started rebounding a little bit better but the biggest thing was our defense. When you look at turnovers, our defense was able to create some turnovers and I thought our ball control was extremely well tonight. We were averaging 13.5 turnovers per game so I was really proud of our team for only have 11 turnovers in a playoff game."
