Box Score by Kevin Buczek
TIGERVILLE, S.C.-Freshman point guard Travis McEachern pulled up for a game-winning 16-foot jumper as time expired to lift Barton College to its second straight dramatic win against North Greenville University on Saturday by a final score of 82-80.
After NGU senior guard Keith Johnson nailed a game-tying trey with 8.9 seconds on the clock, McEachern dribbled up the court and went up for the last shot from the right side of the free throw line. McEachern got the shooter's roll as the ball bounced off the iron twice before hitting the backboard and falling through the netting killing the final two seconds.
Sophomore Chris Flemmings, who made the game-winning transition layup as time expired on the Crusaders in the Dog House on Jan. 8, scored a team-high 19 points in Hayes Gymnasium exactly one month later. Junior Daniel McClendon led the Bulldogs reserves with 13 points. Junior Khari Faison added 11 points and McEachern finished with 10.
Barton (13-9 overall, 9-3 conf.) has won three consecutive games and will next play at Limestone College on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. North Greenville (12-9, 5-6) has dropped four straight contests to dip under .500 in the league for the first time.
Junior forward Phillip Brown, who ranks second in NCAA Division II in rebounds per game, posted 19 points and 15 rebounds for his 15th double-double. Brown also blocked six Barton shots.
Johnson scored a game-high 25 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the final 70 seconds to help NGU erase a late 13-point lead by the Bulldogs. Senior Chris Dean followed with 17 points as the trio of Brown, Johnson and Dean accounted for 61 of the Crusaders 80 points (76.3%).
A four-point play by Chris Flemmings at the 4:52 mark gave Barton its late 73-60 advantage but the Crusaders conquered the deficit with a 20-7 run before McEachern's dagger. Junior Micah Parker started the rally with a 3-pointer. Senior Chris Dean and Brown tallied the next nine NGU points with five and four points, respectively, before Johnson finished off the comeback with eight consecutive Crusader points.
North Greenville shot 62.5% from the field in the first half but Barton held a 40-37 edge at halftime. The Bulldogs held the Crusaders without a 3-pointer in opening period while making 4 of 5 on a pair of treys each by McEachern and freshman Jordan Sharpe. BC nearly doubled up NGU, 31-16, on one of Sharpe's trifectas but the hosts also rallied in the first half with a closing 21-9 run.
Faison scored nine of his 11 points in the first half.
McClendon helped Barton reconstruct its double-digit advantage in the second half scoring 11 of his 13 points after the intermission. A freshman Kendall Patterson trey at the 9:24 mark extended the Royal Blue and White cushion to 15 at the 9:29 mark to match BC's largest lead from the first half before the Crusaders late retaliation.
NGU finished with a 41-30 rebounding surplus and finished the game shooting over 50% making 28 of 54 field goal attempts (51.9%) but Barton hit twice as many 3-pointers, 8-4, and committed seven less turnovers, 22-15. The Bulldogs also shot well at 45.9% (28 of 61) but were even more accurate from the perimeter going 8 of 14 (57.1%) from 3-point distance.
Faison and senior Brian McNair led the Bulldogs on the boards with six rebounds apiece. McNair coordinated Barton's offense with a game-high seven assists.
