Box Score by Benny Benton
WILSON, N.C. – The Barton College men's basketball team built a 21-point lead early in the second half, then held on for dear life to claim an 87-83 Conference Carolinas victory over visiting Erskine College Saturday in Wilson Gymnasium.
The win wasn't decided for the Bulldogs until senior Daniel Westbrook blocked a potential go-ahead 3-pointer by Erskine's Blake Maness with 7.5 seconds to play and sophomore Matt Woods sank two free throws with one second remaining to provide the final margin.
Westbook, a hometown product of Hunt High School, and freshman Michael Boykin each scored a team-high 12 points to lead five players in double-figures for Barton (11-4, 6-1), with Westbrook also collecting eight rebounds. Sophomore Zach Grant produced his best performance as a Bulldog with career-highs in points (10) and rebounds (7) in addition to five assists and two steals.
Erskine (6-9, 2-5) was paced by a game-high 23 points from senior Joby Glymph, who registered 18 of those in the second half in leading the Flying Fleet rally. Junior Thomas Nolan added 13 points, most of them coming on a trio of late 3-pointers, and Brannon Dark chipped in 12 points and nine boards.
The Barton victory avenged its only conference loss of the year, a 96-78 defeat at Erskine way back on November 22. The Bulldogs have rolled off six league wins in a row since then.
It appeared early on as if the win might come easily for BC this time. Barton raced out to an 11-2 lead that was highlighted by two dunks and a block from the 6-1 Boykin.
However, the Bulldogs missed their next eight shots from the floor and turned the ball over four times, allowing Erskine to erase its nine-point deficit and tie the game at 11-all on two Maurice Daniels free throws with 12:13 to go in the half.
A jumper by Jeff Gordon ended the drought for Barton and started an 11-1 run that included five straight points from Grant and four in a row from Westbrook, the final two off an assist from Grant.
Erskine scored its first basket in nearly six minutes on a fast-break layup by Nolan, cutting the deficit to eight, but consecutive steals by Grant fueled another 8-0 run that put the Bulldogs up 30-14 with 6:26 left in the half.
Barton grew the lead to 19 four occasions in the period and took a seemingly commanding 46-29 advantage into intermission. The Bulldogs shot 48 percent in the period compared to 34 percent for the Flying Fleet, including just 11 percent from 3-point range (1 of 9). BC also forced Erskine into nine first-half turnovers.
The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the night at 50-29 on a tip-in by R.J. Claypool, and still enjoyed a 19-point margin at 52-33 after another Claypool layup with 17:44 to play.
However, missed shots and turnovers would plague BC the rest of the way, opening the door for the Erskine comeback. A 3-pointer by Dark started a 13-2 run for the Flying Fleet, the final six points all coming courtesy of Glymph.
A 3-pointer by BC's Woods temporarily stopped the rally, and Barton moved its lead back to as many as 13 points on four occasions, the last one at 67-54 with 10:03 remaining.
But Barton missed its next four shots from the floor, and Erskine quickly trimmed the margin to five, eventually getting back within a single possession after a Glymph layup cut the deficit to 74-71 with 4:20 to play.
The Bulldogs answered each time their lead slipped to three points, and would push the advantage back up to seven at 82-75 after a layup by Claypool with 59 seconds left.
However, a 3-pointer by Nolan cut Erskine's deficit back to four, and a steal and layup by Dark suddenly made it a two-point game at 82-80 with 44 seconds remaining.
Claypool was fouled on the in-bounds attempt, and made both free throws to put BC back up by four, still with 44 seconds left, but Nolan drained a 3-pointer from the right wing 10 seconds later to pull the Fleet within one, 84-83.
Boykin drew a foul with 21 seconds left, but missed the first of his two attempts, leaving the margin at two, 85-83. Erskine called time out after crossing mid-court to set up its offense, but Barton responded with strong defense out of the break.
The Fleet eventually found Maness as the open man on the left sideline. He faked Westbrook past him initially, but the 6-10 big man came from the side to swat away the potential game-winning 3-pointer. The ball ended up in the hands of senior Nick Ellison for his team-high 10th rebound of the night. Ellison quickly passed the ball out to Westbrook, who forwarded it to Woods, and Woods was fouled with a second to go.
The two free throws by Woods completed a 20-of-24 effort from the line (83 percent) in the game by Barton, which leads the league and ranks 17th nationally on the season in free throw percentage.
The performance from the charity stripe helped BC survive a 33 percent effort (11 of 33) from the floor in the second half, including a 1-of-11 showing (9 percent) from 3-point range.
Those misses allowed opportunities on the offensive end for Erskine, which shot 60 percent from the field in the period (20 of 33) after a poor first half.
The contest was the fourth of six straight home games for the Bulldogs. The next one will be perhaps the biggest of the year, as its matches second-place Barton with unbeaten conference leader Limestone College. The Saints, 8-0 in the league and 14-2 overall, are ranked No. 23 nationally in this week's DII Media Poll sponsored by D2SIDA.
