MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. – The Barton men's basketball team (2-2) made it a clean sweep at the Pickle Classic with a 105-90 victory over Virginia State (3-1) Saturday evening at Kornegay Arena for its second straight victory.
Barton redshirt freshman guard
Marcus Boykin (Clinton, N.C.) and sophomore guard
Donaven Hairston (Atlanta, Ga.) combined for 52 points as the Bulldogs won both their contests in the classic.
Boykin led all scorers with a career-high 30 points on 14-of-17 free throw attempts while Hairston added 22 points in the victory. The Bulldogs held a 46-40 advantage at halftime before exploding for 59 points after the break to take control and hand the Trojans their first loss of the year.
The Bulldogs led by as many as 21 points late in the second half – 98-77 with 3:53 left on a lay-up by Hairston – and won at the free throw line. Barton connected on 36-of-45 attempts from the charity stripe and hit 63 percent (17-of-27) of its shots from the floor in the game-breaking second half.
Virginia State was led by Francis Fitzgerald (Danville, Va.) with 21 points but the Trojans connected on just four-of-18 shots from behind the three-point line and turned the ball over 16 times in the setback.
Barton returns home to face Francis Marion in its Conference Carolinas opener on Tuesday, November 30, at Wilson Gymnasium beginning at 7:30 p.m., while Virginia State faces IUP on Saturday, November 27, at 4:00 p.m., in Indiana, Pa.
