Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Although it will not be reflected in the final score, the Barton College men's basketball team gave its nationally-ranked rival, No. 13 University of Mount Olive, all it could handle on Senior Night in the Dog House.
In a game that featured 16 lead changes and six ties, the Bulldogs led with under eight minutes to go and trailed by just two points with 3:19 to play before the Trojans pulled away to a 79-68 Conference Carolinas victory.
Freshman Danny Shand produced 17 points, six assists and five rebounds for Barton in his first home rivalry game. Junior Dominique Byrd added 15 points and six rebounds, and junior DJ Carnegie chipped in a season-high 10 points.
Mount Olive's Kendall Hargrave turned in a dominant performance in the victory, posting 23 points and 14 rebounds. Point guard Dontrell Brite scored 18 points, 15 of those in the second half, and JaQuan Blount contributed 12 points and seven rebounds. All five of the Trojans' starters reached double-figures.
The loss dropped the Bulldogs to 13-15 overall and 9-11 in league play. BC will enter the Conference Carolinas Tournament on Saturday as the No. 6 seed, and will play No. 3 seed North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C, at 4 p.m. The two teams split their regular-season meetings, each winning on its home floor.
Mount Olive, already assured of the tournament's top seed, will host No. 8 seed Erskine College on Saturday after completing a 26-2 regular-season and 19-1 league slate. The Trojans have won 15 games in a row since their only conference loss at King University on January 3.
For much of Tuesday's contest, that streak was not a certainty. Although the Trojans jumped out to a quick six-point lead at 11-5 on a dunk by Dominique Reed, Barton scored the game's next six points to tie the contest back at 11-all with 12:56 left in the first half.
Neither team led by more three points until a 3-pointer by Mount Olive's John Wieland with 33 seconds in the half put the Trojans briefly up by four, but Carnegie answered with one of his own just before the buzzer to send the game to halftime with Mount Olive leading by just a point at 35-34.
The Trojans still enjoyed a one-point margin at 47-46 when they used a 3-pointer by Jordan McCain and a pair of free throws by Hargrove to open up a six-point cushion – the biggest lead of the game at that point – with 10:35 left.
However, a three-point play by Byrd and consecutive layups by Shand helped Barton storm back into the lead at 52-51 with 9:09 remaining, the Bulldogs' first advantage since late in the first half.
After two lead changes and a tie, Mount Olive used a pair of McCain free throws and a layup by Brite to take a four-point cushion, but Shand responded with a 3-pointer to cut the BC deficit back to one once more at 60-59 with 4:49 to go.
Barton trailed by two after a free throw by Shand, but a McCain steal led to a Hargrove jumper, and a missed one-and-one opportunity was turned into a layup by Brite that put UMO up 66-60 with 2:32 remaining.
Shand made a layup on Barton's next possession to pull the Bulldogs within four and had possession following a Jake Veasley steal, but his layup attempt on the other end was blocked by Blount, and McCain converted on the other end with a layup to put the Trojans up six once more at 68-62 with 1:27 to play.
The Bulldogs missed jumpers on their next two possessions, and Blount scored on a free throw and a layup to put the Trojans up nine with 48 seconds to go. Barton was then forced to foul, and Brite went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 35 seconds to ice away the win on a snowy night in Wilson.
The Trojans shot 50 percent from the field in the game (27 of 54) while holding the Bulldogs to just 33 percent (19 of 58). However, Barton kept pace by forcing 15 Mount Olive turnovers.
