Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – Barton College will enter next week's Conference Carolinas Tournament as the No. 2 seed, but there was little celebration of that news Friday night after the Bulldogs were thoroughly beaten by visiting Emmanuel College on Senior Night, 93-69.
The Lions (21-5, 16-4) made their first nine shots of the second half and went on shoot 66 percent in the period (20 of 30), turning an eight-point halftime game into a rout.
However, the Bulldogs (18-10, 13-7) backed into the No. 2 seed after Lees-McRae College was upset at North Greenville University on Friday night. Barton will host No. 7 seed Erskine College in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Wilson Gymnasium.
Barton actually held an eight-point lead with 6:45 left in the first half after making six straight free throws. The Lions were ice cold at that point, having made just 6-of-25 attempts from the field (24 percent).
However, the script quickly flipped, with Emmanuel making eight of its last 13 attempts from the floor (62 percent) and Barton making just two of its last 11 (18 percent).
As a result, the Lions outscored Barton 23-7 to close the half, turning that eight-point deficit into an eight-point advantage at the break, 39-31. For all its struggles shooting most of the half, Emmanuel finished the period with a higher percentage than the Bulldogs, 37 to 36 percent.
The Lions then stormed out of the gate to start the second half, needing just three minutes to push the lead to 18 points at 57-39. Emmanuel didn't miss a shot in the second half until the 14:06 mark, and had four 3-pointers among its streak of nine straight baskets to start the period.
Barton shot the same 36 percent in the second half that it did in the first. The Bulldogs earned most of their points from the free throw line, where they were 25-of-36 on the night (74 percent).
Dominique Byrd, one of three BC seniors honored before the game, led the effort from the charity stripe, scoring all 12 of his points from the line on a perfect 12-of-12 effort. Byrd also had 10 rebounds to complete his sixth double-double of the season.
Ryan Canoy contributed eight points in his final regular-season home game for the Bulldogs, and Jake Veasley had six points and five rebounds.
Sophomore Danny Shand paced BC in the loss, producing 16 points, five rebounds and five assists. Junior R.J. Claypool made 6-of-8 shots from the field and added a total of 14 points.
Emmanuel was led by 17 points from Kendrick Colvin. Steven Guinchard drained four 3-pointers to account for most of his 16 points, and Austin Greene chipped in 13 points.
As provisional members of Conference Carolinas, the Lions remain ineligible for post-season play, but will take with them the satisfaction of a second-place finish in the league this year, just one game out of first place and three ahead of third-place Barton.
With EC not competing in the tournament, Barton stands as the No. 2 team, where it will face an Erskine College team (12-14, 9-11) that fell into the No. 7 slot after a 74-59 loss at University of Mount Olive on Friday.
The Bulldogs swept the season series from the Flying Fleet, winning 75-66 at Erskine on January 5th and 80-72 in Wilson eight days later.
