Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Trailing by two points with just over eight minutes to play, the Barton College men's basketball team produced an 18-2 run to pull away to a 79-65 victory over visiting Belmont Abbey College on Saturday in Wilson Gymnasium.
Barton (17-9, 12-6), which was shooting just over 40 percent from the field in the game at the time, made five straight baskets and seven of nine during the spurt, all but one of those seven field goals scored either on layups or jumpers in the paint.
Point guard Danny Shand started the final assault by driving to the basket for layups on three straight possessions and getting fouled on one of them, turning the 58-56 deficit into a 63-58 lead with 6:51 to go. Senior Dominique Byrd added a layup on the next possession, and R.J. Claypool followed with a 3-pointer to put BC up nine at 68-59 with 5:13 left.
After Belmont Abbey (9-18, 5-14) made one of two free throw attempts, Barton missed its next two attempts, but the Bulldogs got the offensive rebound both times, leading to a Ryan Canoy jumper and BC's first double-digit lead of the night, 70-60, with 3:59 remaining. Jake Veasley added consecutive jumpers to finish off the run, giving Barton a 74-60 lead with 2:34 left.
Barton outscored the Crusaders 50 to 28 in the paint in the contest, leading to a final shooting percentage of nearly 52 percent for the game (31 of 60).
Claypool registered a team-high 13 points for the Bulldogs, with Shand and Canoy each adding 11. Shand also handed out a game-high seven assists, and Claypool chipped in five rebounds. Dominique Byrd contributed nine points, and Nick Ellison posted a career-high seven points in the victory.
Belmont Abbey was paced by 18 points each from Deion Lane and Nick Hough. Lane also had a game-high seven rebounds for the Crusaders. Leading scorer Ray Chen, who averaged nearly 16 points per game coming into the contest, was held to just two points in the first half and did not play in the final 19 minutes.
Before Barton's late run, the contest was largely a one-possession game. The Bulldogs opened up an eight-point lead briefly in the first half after a pair of layups by Claypool sandwiched around a Byrd dunk. However, Chen's only basket of the night, followed by a Hough 3-pointer, quickly pulled the Crusaders back within two.
BAC tied the game once more on a 3-pointer by Lane with 3:38 left in the half and later pulled away to its biggest lead of the afternoon at 35-31 on two free throws by Aiden Richard with 53 seconds left before intermission.
However, a three-point play by Shand and a layup by Canoy off a Shand assist gave Barton the final five points of the half and a 36-35 lead at the break. Neither team would hold more than a three-point advantage again until BC's decisive run in the final eight minutes.
Barton's win, coupled with a loss by Lees-McRae College to Emmanuel College on Saturday, puts the Bulldogs back into a tie for third place overall in the league, and second among teams eligible for the conference tournament (Emmanuel is still in its probationary period).
The Bulldogs have two more games left in the regular-season, a matchup on Tuesday night at rival University of Mount Olive, then a home meeting with second-place Emmanuel next Friday night.
