Box Score by Benny Benton
TIGERVILLE, S.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team moved into a tie for second place in Conference Carolinas after a 79-71 road victory over North Greenville University on Friday at Hayes Gymnasium.
Redshirt senior Ryan Canoy scored seven of BC's final 13 points and 12 second-half points overall in helping the Bulldogs improve to 9-4 on the season and 4-1 in conference play.
Barton made 11 of its final 14 free throws (79 percent) over the game's last five minutes, including six in a row late in the contest with the outcome still in doubt. It also turned the ball over just six times, a season-low.
North Greenville (3-7, 1-3), the defending league tournament champions, led by as many as eight points just over four minutes into the contest and shot a torrid 63 percent in the first half (17 of 27) in taking a one-point cushion into the break, 44-43. However, the Crusaders went cold in the final period, making just 9 of 33 from the floor (27 percent).
The Bulldogs used an 8-0 run to pull even at the 14:09 mark of the first half, and the two teams largely stayed within one possession of each other until the very end of the game.
Barton overcame NGU's hot shooting in the first period by forcing the Crusaders into eight first-half turnovers, and then crashed the boards once North Greenville cooled off for a 28-22 second-half rebounding edge.
The last of 13 ties in the game occurred at 68-all after two free throws by NGU's Korval McElroy with 4:10 to play. The Bulldogs got an offensive rebound on their next possession from Danny Shand, who was fouled on the play. The sophomore missed the second free throw attempt, but BC got the offensive board once more, leading to two free throws by Canoy and a 71-68 lead.
Jai Jencks made a tough hook shot in the post to pull the Crusaders within one, 71-70, with 2:58 to go, but Canoy answered with a jumper on the other end to put the Bulldogs back up by three.
McElroy, who led all scorers in the game with 19 points, made the second of two free throw attempts with 1:29 left to help NGU climb within two at 73-71, but an offensive rebound by Dominique Byrd on Barton's next possession led to two free throws, which he made to give BC a 75-71 advantage with 58 seconds remaining.
Miguel Cartagena missed for the Crusaders on a drive to the basket with 35 seconds to go, and Canoy came down with the rebound for Barton. He passed the ball to Matt Woods, who was fouled with 28 seconds left. Woods made both free throws, giving the Bulldogs a six-point cushion.
North Greenville fired up a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left but missed, and Byrd made one of two free throw attempts on the other end to put the game out of reach.
Shand led Barton with 18 points, Jake Veasley added 16 and Byrd chipped in 12. Canoy finished with 14 points, and also paced BC with eight rebounds. Byrd collected seven boards, with Shand grabbing six and Veasley pulling down five.
Barton will finish off a four-game road swing on Saturday night when it visits Gaffney, S.C., to take on Limestone College, which upset University of Mount Olive on Friday, 77-65.
