The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team wrapped up the 2008-09 regular season with a 70-65 win at Limestone this evening. The Abbey, winners of eight of its last nine, climbs to 19-8 overall (15-5 conference) as the Saints stand at 9-18 (7-13).

Freshman forward Kyle Phillips and senior guard Jonathan Jackson scored 14 points apiece for the Crusaders, while Alex Pledger and Richard Barbee both scored 13 points. Pledger just missed recording a double-double with nine rebounds. Chad Patus had a game-high 12 rebounds.

Michael Barrett led the Saints with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Anthony Middleton scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and posted two blocks. Stewart Clark scored 12 points. Middleton, Nick Debnam and Bobby Grier each tallied three assists.

The score was tight in the opening 10 minutes of the first half, as there were four lead changes. The Abbey finally started to pull away at the 10:34 mark after a field-goal from Barbee. The visitors built up a 10-point lead (29-19), but the Saints started to close the gap. Limestone cut the Crusaders' lead to four (33-29) with 3:32 left in the period, but the Abbey outscored the hosts 8-2 in the remaining time for the 41-31 lead at halftime.

The Crusaders maintained their lead throughout the second half, and led by 14 points (65-51) with six minutes left in regulation. The Saints started to make a comeback, and came within four points of the visitors (67-63) with 42 seconds left on the clock. Jackson sank a free-throw with 33 seconds remaining, but a layup from Middleton brought the Saints within 3 (68-65) at the 21-second mark. Limestone was unable to score in the final seconds of the game, and Jackson's two free-throws gave the Abbey the 70-65 win.

Limestone shot 43.3 percent from the field during the contests (26-60) while the Abbey was 28-62 (45.2 percent).