Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Conference Carolinas Tournament for the eighth time in the last 10 years on Tuesday after downing Erskine College in the quarterfinal round, 83-68, at Wilson Gymnasium.
The Bulldogs, 19-10 and the tourney's No. 2 seed, will face No. 6 seed Limestone College at 4 p.m. on Saturday at King University in Bristol, Tenn. The Saints upset No. 3 seed Lees-McRae College on the road Tuesday night, 75-74.
Barton grabbed a double-digit lead over seventh-seeded Erskine (12-15) midway through the first half and held it for much of the night. The Flying Fleet closed a deficit that had reached 17 points in the first half down to just five on Joby Glymph's 3-pointer with 13:18 to play in the game, but Barton went on a 7-0 run capped by a Tyler Thayer 3-pointer to regain comfortable footing at 60-48 with 11:50 left.
Senior Jake Veasley scored a team-high 16 points for the Bulldogs. Senior Dominique Byrd added 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and sophomore Danny Shand chipped in 13 points, nine assists and six boards. Thayer contributed nine points, all on 3-pointers.
Glymph, the league's leading scorer, paced everyone in the game with 23 points, but was limited to just six in the second half. The junior guard was also the top rebounder for either team with eight. Brannon Dark added seven points, seven boards and four steals.
Erskine scored the game's first five points to take its biggest lead of the night, and still led by four at 7-3 following a jumper by Glymph at the 18:06 mark. But the Flying Fleet didn't score another point until Ray Lock's layup with 10:33 to go in the half, and by that time Barton had rolled off 14 unanswered points. The Fleet missed 12 straight shots over that stretch and turned the ball over four times.
The Bulldogs went up by 12 on a layup by R.J. Claypool before Erskine took advantage of two BC turnovers to put together a 6-0 run and cut the deficit in half to 22-16 with 7:44 left in the period. But Barton got a 3-pointer from junior Daniel Westbrook to stop EC's momentum, and Westbrook added a jumper following a series of turnovers by both teams to put the Bulldogs back up by double-digits.
Barton eventually grew its lead to as many as 17 points at 38-21 on a jumper by Tashawn Sampson with 2:01 to play before intermission. However, Erskine closed the half on a 5-0 run, then produced another 5-0 spurt to open the second period and close within seven at 38-31.
With the margin still seven at 40-33, Barton used a layup by Shand and a three-point play by Veasley to climb back in front by 12. The Bulldogs held the same advantage at 53-41 when a 3-pointer by Dark, a free throw by Glymph, and a 3-pointer by Glymph pulled the Flying Fleet within just five with 13:18 remaining.
However, Barton got a layup on its next possession from Claypool, then forced an Erskine turnover. BC senior Ryan Canoy scored on a jumper in the paint, and the Fleet missed a shot on its next possession. Thayer then drilled a 3-pointer, and the Bulldogs were back to their 12-point cushion again with 11:50 to go.
Erskine trimmed the margin to seven one final time on a 3-pointer by Blake Maness with 7:20 to play, but Veasley answered with a 3-pointer of his own for Barton. Lock sank two free throws to pull the Fleet within eight, but Veasley made another 3-pointer to put BC up 11 at 71-60 with 5:24 remaining, and the margin never dropped into single digits again.
Barton shot 47 percent from the field (28 of 60) and 77 percent from the line (17 of 22) while holding Erskine to 37 percent from the floor (22 of 59). The Fleet made 70 percent from the charity stripe (17 of 24).
The Bulldogs turned the ball over much more than they would have liked, committing 17 miscues, but their defense forced Erskine into almost as many, 16.
In its semifinal matchup against Limestone, Barton will face a team that it narrowly beat twice during the regular season, 77-74 on January 9 in Gaffney, S.C., and 77-70 at home on January 29. The Saints are just 12-17 on the year, but have been hot of late, winning three straight. Limestone upset regular-season champion King University in its final game before the tournament to earn the No. 6 seed, then knocked off the No. 3 seed Lees-McRae on Tuesday.
