Belmont Abbey junior guard Richard Barbee and sophomore forward Kyle Phillips both posted double doubles, with Barbee scoring a game-high 28 points and ten rebounds, and Phillips contributing 23 points and 11 rebounds, as the Crusaders men's basketball team ran its winning streak to four games with an 88-79 win over the visiting Anderson University Trojans this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey moves to 10-7 overall and 6-5 in Conference Carolinas, while the Trojans fall to 13-4 overall and 7-4 in Conference Carolinas.

Barbee, who had ten points at the half, finished with 28 on 11-17 shooting from the field with ten rebounds, three assists and two steals. Phillips added 23 points on eight of 19 shooting with 11 rebounds, seven on the offensive glass, with an assist and a steal. Chad Patus in his first action in two weeks, contributed ten points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Belmont Abbey shot 47 percent (32-68) from the floor and won the rebounding battle by a 44-42 count.

Anderson, which shot 42 percent (28-66) was led by Tony Anderson's 21 points, one of four Trojans to reach double figures. Trey Britton added 18 points, while Brandon Young and Nick Trull contributed 14 and 11, respectively.

The opening 20 minutes saw three ties and three lead changes, all in the first three minutes, as the Abbey took the lead for good at 10-8 on a Barbee layup, which started a 10-3 Crusader run that rose the advantage to seven points at 18-11. Trull buried back-to-back three-pointers to cut the lead to one, and the two teams exchanged baskets for the next several minutes, before a 14-6 Abbey run to close the half gave it a 45-37 lead at the break.

The second half was a series of runs by both teams, as the Abbey's lead never dipped below four points but was never higher than 11. Leading 66-55 with 9:45 left, Anderson went on a 9-2 run to close the lead to four, but the Crusaders answered the charge by building its lead back to eight points with 1:55 left. Anderson never closed to fewer than seven points after that, as the Abbey sank five free throws and used a basket by Ian Parry in the final 1:16 to seal the win.