Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team limited Erskine College to just six points in the game's final nine minutes to pull away for a 63-44 victory in Conference Carolinas victory Wednesday night in Wilson Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs (13-13, 9-9) held a slim 40-38 advantage with 9:06 left when they began to separate themselves from the Flying Fleet (9-17, 5-13). Sophomore Daniel Westbrook scored all 11 of his points and had two of his team-high four steals during a four-minute span as Barton surged in front 55-39.
Jake Veasley finished off the 20-1 run with a dunk and a 3-pointer, capping a game-high 24-point night for the junior transfer.
Erskine actually shot better from the field in the decisive second-half than the Bulldogs (44 percent to 37 percent), but the Fleet turned the ball over 13 times in the second half after just four in the opening period. Six of those came during Barton's big run.
Barton also attacked on offense more frequently, and the result was 26 trips to the free throw line. The Bulldogs made 22 of those attempts for an 84.6 percentage that was their best of the season. Erskine, meanwhile, was just 7 of 13 (53.8 percent) from the charity stripe.
The 44 points allowed by the Bulldogs were the fewest given up in a game since Barton held Erskine to the same total in a win at Due West, S.C., on January 8, 2011.
The Bulldogs enjoyed a six-point cushion for much of the game's first 10 minutes thanks to Veasley, who scored 13 of Barton's first 16 points. However, four consecutive layups by the Fleet – two by Ray Lock and one each from Brandon Wilkerson and Justin Shelton – put the Fleet up by two with 4:48 left in the half, their biggest lead of the game.
Although Barton led most of the period, the Bulldogs could not pull away from the Fleet, and Erskine briefly regained a one-point lead on a 3-pointer by Maurice Daniels with just 20 seconds left before intermission.
Veasley answered with his fourth 3-pointer and 16th point of the half six seconds before the buzzer to give the Bulldogs a 23-21 halftime advantage. Erskine took the lead for one possession a minute into the second half on a free throw by Cameron, but Shand produced a layup on the other end to put Barton up 25-24 and the Bulldogs led the rest of the way.
That advantage was small, however, hovering between one and five points until the big run with nine minutes left.
In addition to the contributions from Veasley and Westbrook, the Bulldogs also received 11 points and a game-high five assists from Shand, and senior Khari Faison pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
DeShaun Hall led Erskine with 10 points and Thomas Cameron added seven. Leading scorer Ray Lock was limited to five points on 2-of-10 shooting.
The victory snapped a six-game losing streak for Barton. The win, coupled with a loss by Pfeiffer University at Southern Wesleyan University on Wednesday, moved the Bulldogs back into a tie for sixth place in the league standings with one week to go in the regular season.
