Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team used a 51-point scoring outburst in the second half to rally from a nine-point deficit and edge visiting Young Harris College, 91-86, in the 2015-16 season-opener for both teams Friday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs committed just two second-half turnovers while forcing 11, and turned those opportunities into a 19-2 edge in points off those mistakes. Barton also outscored the larger Mountain Lions 28-16 in the paint in the period.
Sophomore Danny Shand scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the half and junior Daniel Westbrook added 11 of his 15 points in the period. Westbrook also led the Bulldogs on the evening with seven rebounds.
Junior transfer R.J. Claypool had an impressive debut for Barton by producing a perfect shooting night, making all eight of his shot attempts and his only free throw chance for 17 points. The Woodbury, Minn., resident added six rebounds and dished out four assists. Senior Jake Veasley also had four assists in addition to 16 points.
Young Harris was paced by junior C.J. Wilson, who led all scorers with 25 points. Sophomore Ben Waterhouse contributed 19 points, most of those on 5-of-10 shooting from 3-point range. Junior Marques McKoy added a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds, while junior Marcellus Roberts chipped in 13 points and eight boards.
Waterhouse went 5-of-6 from long range in the first half and Wilson added a pair of 3-pointers in helping the Mountain Lions to a seven-point halftime lead, 47-40. Roberts tacked on a layup for the first basket of the second half, pushing the Young Harris advantage to nine for the second time in the game.
However, Barton turned up the defensive intensity, forcing the Mountain Lions into five straight misses from the field and three turnovers over the next three minutes. The Bulldogs went on a 14-0 run that included three baskets off offensive rebounds.
Shand had five points during the spurt and Westbrook added four. A 3-pointer by Veasley capped the run, which put BC in front 54-49 with 16:38 still to play.
Barton still led by five when a basket by Waterhouse and a 3-pointer by Bjorn Walker kick-started another Young Harris run that put the Mountain Lions back in the lead by five following a 3-pointer by Wilson.
A pair of baskets by Veasley and two free throws by Ryan Canoy regained the lead for Barton at the 10:41 mark, and the two sides traded leads before the Bulldogs moved in front to stay on a 3-pointer by Tyler Thayer with 9:48 left.
Clinging to a two-point advantage with 8:27 remaining, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run to take its biggest lead of the night, nine points, with 5:30 to go. Barton still enjoyed that margin with 4:08 to play when a putback dunk by Roberts and a layup by McKoy following a BC turnover highlighted a 7-0 YHC run that got the Mountain Lions within two at 85-83 with 2:10 left.
Barton got a 3-pointer from Shand to make it a two-possession game with 1:47 remaining before Wilson cut the deficit to three with a basket. The margin was still three when Westbrook missed a contested layup with 31 seconds left, giving Young Harris a chance to tie the game. However, Wilson missed two 3-pointers in the waning moments, and Shand scored on a layup just before the buzzer to account for the final margin of five, 91-86.
After giving up 8-of-12 shooting from 3-point range in the first half, Barton limited the Mountain Lions to 3-of-12 from that distance in the final stanza.
The Bulldogs, which shot 43 percent in the first period from the floor, improved to nearly 53 percent in the second half in squeezing out the victory, which came on the opening day of the 45-Second Classic. In the first game of the Classic, nationally-ranked University of Mount Olive downed USC Aiken, 81-64.
Mount Olive and Barton will switch opponents on Saturday, with the Trojans playing Young Harris at 2 p.m. and the Bulldogs hosting USC Aiken at 4 p.m.
