Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College shot a season-high 53 percent from the field while holding the nation's leading 3-point shooter to a season-low 11 points in claiming a 91-73 victory over Limestone College Saturday night in a Conference Carolinas battle between last year's regular-season co-champions.
The Bulldogs (8-8, 4-2), winners of two straight and four of their last five, lit up the nets in the opening period, shooting nearly 60 percent (19 of 32, 59.4 percent) from the field and 87 percent from the line (7 of 8) in reaching 50 points by halftime for the third time this season.
Barton, which never trailed in the game, took a 15-point lead into intermission, and led by as many as 25 points midway through the second half before the Saints (10-6, 2-4) rallied to within 12 with just over five minutes remaining.
Junior transfer Daniel McClendon paced the Bulldogs with 20 points and a career-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Chris Flemmings chipped in 17 points, while senior Brian McNair contributed 14 points, six assists and five steals.
Josh Odem had 18 points and six assists to lead the Saints, while Assad Woods added 15 points and six rebounds.
Limestone guard PJ Foster, who came into the game making an NCAA Division II-leading 4.87 3-pointers per game, was held to just one in the decisive first half and three in the contest on 10 attempts. As a team, the league's second-leading 3-point shooting team made just 5 of 20 from long range, while Barton sank 10 of 20.
Barton took control of the game midway through the first period when it turned a two-point cushion into a 14-point advantage with a 15-3 spurt.
The run started, ironically, at the free throw line, where the Bulldogs came into the game with a 60.4 percent average that ranked 285th out of 291 Division II programs. Leading 15-13, Chris Flemmings was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws. After a technical on Limestone, McNair made two in a row, giving the Bulldogs a seven-point lead, 20-13, with 12:40 left in the half.
A steal by McNair led to a Ryan Canoy layup, and Travis McEachern followed with a steal that he converted into a layup himself to give Barton a double-digit lead for the first time at 24-13 with 11:25 to go before intermission.
Odem delivered a three-point play for Limestone on the other end to stop the scoring drought, but Zach Faircloth assisted a Canoy layup and then produced a rare four-point play when he was fouled while making a 3-pointer. The resulting free throw left Barton with a 30-16 lead with 8:26 remaining in the period. Barton extended its lead to 16 shortly thereafter, and led by double-digits for the rest of the game.
Faircloth and Khari Faison both scored all seven of their points in the opening frame, while Canoy and Kendall Patterson scored all six of their points in the first half as well. Barton's reserves out-scored Limestone's bench 19 to 9 in the game.
The Saints came into the game averaging just 11 turnovers per game, second-best in the league, but had that many in the first half against the Bulldogs. Limestone finished the game with 17, 11 of those coming on Barton steals. The Bulldogs scored 22 points off of those miscues.
Barton, which surpassed the 90-point mark for the second straight game, is now 7-0 this year when scoring at least 75 points. The Bulldogs hope to reach that total again when they host Pfeiffer University Tuesday in a 7:30 p.m. contest in the Dog House.
