Belmont Abbey freshman guard Richard Barbee scored a team-high 20 points, sinking seven of eight field goal attempts and 6-7 free throw attempts, including four in the last 14 seconds, as the Crusaders men's basketball team earned its first win of the year with a 68-63 win at Lees-McRae this evening. The Abbey, which won its first game of the Stephen Miss era, improves to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in Conference Carolinas.

Barbee, who scored 13 of his 20 points in the second half, was nearly flawless, converting seven of eight field goal attempts, while pulling down four rebounds and collecting two steals and an assist in 23 minutes. Junior guard Jonathan Jackson added 19 points on 5-15 shooting from the floor while dishing out two assists. The Abbey shot 42.3 percent (22-52) from the floor and 34.8 percent (8-23) from three point range.

The Crusaders led for much of the first half, building their lead to as high as 11 points on two occasions, the last of which coming at the 6:03 mark on Deonte Murphy three-pointer that gave the Abbey a 28-17 lead. The Bobcats could not close the lead to any fewer than five points, and after three-pointer by Jackson with 59 seconds left extended the Crusaders lead to eight, a free-throw by Lees-McRae cut the lead to seven at 38-31 at the half.

Lees-McRae opened the second half by outscoring the Abbey 15-11 through the first 6:15 to give it the lead for the first time since early in the first half. It would be short lived, as the Crusaders responded with a 7-0 run to take a six-point lead at 54-48 with 12:16 left. The Abbey held onto the advantage and built it to as high as seven points at 59-52 with 7:23 remaining. The Bobcats answered with a 9-0 run to re-take the lead at 61-59 with 3:17 left, but Jackson and Barbee would take over from there.

Down two, Jackson swished a jumper to tie the game at 61 with 3:02 left, and after another Lees-McRae jumper, which turned out to be its final basket of the night, Jackson again hit a short jumper to trim the lead to one. Barbee would then score the final six points of the night, as he gave the Abbey the lead for good with a jumper with 2:01 left, then hit four-straight free throws to extend the lead to 68-63, which was the final.