Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College took sole possession of third place in Conference Carolinas after downing Belmont Abbey College, 84-63, Saturday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs moved to 5-2 in league play and 9-6 overall with the victory, Barton's fifth in its last six games. The win also completed a season sweep of the Crusaders (1-14, 1-7).
Junior Jake Veasley led the way for Barton, making 5-of-7 shots from the field in scoring a game-high 17 points. Junior Dominique Byrd added 15 points and five rebounds, while senior Ryan Canoy chipped in 14 points and four boards. Freshman Danny Shand contributed 14 points, six rebounds and six assists for the Bulldogs.
The Crusaders were paced by Ray Chen, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half. Deion Lane and Nick Hough both tossed in 12 points.
Although Barton shot a season-high 54.9 percent from the floor, the Bulldogs only scored two more baskets from the field than Belmont Abbey, which shot 53 percent.
However, Barton enjoyed a significant advantage at the free throw line. Already the No. 2 team in the nation in free throw attempts and No. 4 team in free throws made coming into the game, BC went to the stripe 40 times and made 25 (62.5 percent). The Crusaders drew 18 foul attempts but only made eight (44.4 percent).
The Bulldogs also protected the basketball well, making a season-low 11 turnovers.
The Crusaders got off to a strong start in the game, producing an early 10-1 run to take an 11-4 advantage just over four minutes into the contest. Belmont Abbey made five straight field goal attempts during the spurt, while the Bulldogs missed three shots and had a turnover.
Barton used consecutive baskets by senior Khari Faison to take its first lead since the opening moments at 14-13 with just under 11 minutes left in the half. The two sides then traded the lead on six straight possessions, and went through a total of eight lead changes before the Bulldogs finally took the lead for good at 30-27 on a 3-pointer by Veasley with 4:13 to go before intermission.
Trailing by seven with just over three minutes to play in the period, Belmont Abbey cut the deficit to three on two occasions, but Veasley scored the final four points of the half for Barton to send the Bulldogs to the locker room with a 41-34 halftime cushion.
The Crusaders, who turned the ball over 19 times in the game, committed five of those miscues in the first five minutes of the second half. Belmont Abbey also went 1-of-4 from the floor in that span, opening the door for Barton to slowly pull away.
Daniel McClendon extended BC's lead to nine on the first basket of the second half, and Canoy moved Barton's lead into double-digits for the first time on a layup with 17:24 remaining. Hough matched his layup on the other end for BAC, but Canoy made another layup and the Bulldogs led by double-digits the rest of the way.
The game was the second in a three-game home stand for Barton. The Bulldogs will host Pfeiffer University on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
