Box Score by Cory Guinn
MISENHEIMER, N.C. – The recent losing streak for the Barton College men's basketball team reached six games with an 86-64 loss to the Falcons of Pfeiffer University on Saturday night at Merner Gymnasium.
With the 22-point victory, Pfeiffer (13-10 9-8) secured a sweep of the regular season series, having won a January 13 meeting over Barton in Wilson.
Barton (12-13, 8-9) scored the first point of the game on a free throw from senior Khari Faison but Pfeiffer scored five unanswered points to build and early four-point lead with just over 18 minutes to play in the opening half.
The Falcon lead would grow to a five-point advantage at the 13:13 mark of the half after sophomore guard Mike Smith converted on an and-one play. Smith would go on to lead Pfeiffer with a game-high 24 points on 8-for-15 shooting from the floor and 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in 28 minutes.
A dunk by junior Dominique Byrd forced the game's first tie at 16-16 five minutes later before a layup from junior AJ Clark and a three-point from sophomore Andrew Guerrero put the Falcons back ahead by a five-point margin.
The Bulldogs would continue to battle at senior guard Daniel McClendon found his groove and scored seven straight points for the Barton offense to tie the game at 23-23 before back-to-back jumpers from sophomore Jordan Sharpe and senior Ryan Canoy put the visiting team ahead by four with 2:25 to play in the half.
However, Pfeiffer closed the half on a 6-2 run to tie the game at 29-29 heading into intermission. The two teams both shot under 40 percent in the opening half of play, combining for 18 total turnovers and just seven assists in the game's opening 20 minutes of action.
Sophomore Daniel Westbrook opened the second half with two free throw to put Barton ahead by two until Smith quickly tied the game on a jumper just seconds later.
From that point on Pfeiffer used an 18-6 run over a 6:01 stretch to build an almost insurmountable 12-point lead with 13:56 left to play. The Falcon lead continued to grow to as much as 75-57 with four minutes left before stretching to the 22-point advantage that would eventually seal the home victory.
The Bulldog offense struggled to shoot 33.3 percent from the field, including 15.4 percent (2-for-13) from three-point range, while Pfeiffer shot 50 percent from the floor, including a 67.7 percent shooting effort in the second half. The Falcons also held a decisive 40-22 edge in points scored in the paint as Barton registered 28 points off of the bench compared to just 11 points by the home team's reserve unit.
McClendon was the only Bulldog in double figures, scoring a season-high 12 points in 25 minutes of play, while Westbrook narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and tying a career-high with nine rebounds with a career-high four blocks.
Freshman Danny Shand scored eight points in 14 minutes off of the bench, as Canoy and Faison each recorded seven points and three rebounds apiece in the loss.
The Bulldogs will be looking to get back on track when they host conference foe Erskine College on Wednesday, February 18 at 7:30 p.m. in Wilson Gymnasium.
