Box Score by Benny Benton
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team allowed an opponent to reach the century mark in a regular-season game for the first time in nearly three years Wednesday night as Fayetteville State University thumped the Bulldogs, 100-81, in Capel Arena.
Barton (3-3) had not given up 100 points in the regular season since a 100-89 loss at Pfeiffer University on Jan. 18, 2012, and had not allowed anyone to reach that plateau since Belmont Abbey College scored 105 in the 2013 Conference Carolinas Tournament.
Fayetteville State (4-2) reached triple-digits for the second straight outing, as the Broncos scored 109 on Morris College in their home-opener on Monday. FSU has won its last three contests overall, averaging better than 101 points per contest over that span.
The Broncos beat Barton by shooting a sizzling 60 percent from the field (33 of 55) in the game, including an incredible 72 percent in the second half (18 of 25). The Bulldogs also could not keep Fayetteville State off the free throw line, as BC was called for 33 fouls and FSU shot 41 free throws, making 29 (71 percent).
Senior guard Anthony Shelton poured in 27 points and added six rebounds to lead Fayetteville State. Freshman guard Carl McCray chipped in 24 points and Joshua Dawson chipped in 15 points – all in the first half – before fouling out five minutes into the second period. Dawson handed out five assists before he left, and Juwan Addison posted a game-high 11 rebounds.
Barton freshman Danny Shand reached his season average of 19 points to lead the Bulldogs, but most of those points came late with the game already out of reach. Shand got into early foul trouble in the first half and had just one point at intermission.
Junior Jake Veasley added 18 points and seven rebounds for Barton, and junior Dominique Byrd pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.
The game was tied at 11-all after a Veasley layup with 14:11 left in the first half, but Barton missed six of seven free throw attempts over the next two minutes, opening the door for Fayetteville State to race ahead to a double-digit lead at 25-15 on a Dawson jumper with 10:32 remaining.
Barton closed to within two points on a Kendall Patterson 3-pointer with 8:49 to go before intermission, and after FSU made one free throw, Daniel Westbrook tipped in a missed BC shot to pull the Bulldogs within a single point, 26-25, with 6:52 left.
The Bulldogs remained within four points at 36-32 after a Jaime Johnson tip-in with 3:13 remaining before the break, but a 3-pointer and four straight free throws by the Broncos started FSU on a 12-5 run to close out the half.
Barton scored the first bucket of the second half to briefly cut the deficit to nine, but Fayetteville State scored the game's next 14 points to take a 62-39 lead. Shelton and McCray each scored six points during the spurt, which was helped by three turnovers and five fouls by the Bulldogs.
BC cut that 23-point margin down to as little as 11 on a Veasley 3-pointer with 13:49 to go, but the Broncos pushed the advantage back to 20 with 9:21 left, and Barton got no closer than 15 the rest of the way.
The two teams actually matched each other in rebounds, 37, and the Bulldogs had just two more turnovers (22 to 20). However, the Broncos scored 10 more points in the paint (46 to 36) and scored 10 more points from the line to account for the final margin.
Barton will return to action on Monday when it hosts Emmanuel College at 7:30 p.m. as part of a Conference Carolinas doubleheader.
