The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team suffered its first loss of the 2010-11 season as it was edged 90-86 by the visiting Barton Bulldogs this evening at the Wheeler Center. The win moves Barton to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey drops to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in Conference Carolinas.

Down 88-83 with five seconds left, Tyshawn Good drained a three-pointer with three seconds left to close the gap to two points. After an Abbey foul, Greg Mammel hit two free throws with less than a second left to seal the win.

The Abbey never led after taking a 29-28 lead with 6:17 to go in the first half. Barton closed the half on an 18-9 run to take a 47-38 lead into the break.

Barton held onto its lead throughout the final 20 minutes, but the Crusaders never let it get any higher than ten points. With Barton leading 73-63 with 5:20 left the Abbey made one last charge, whittling the lead down to three at 82-79 with 38 seconds left. The flurry was punctuated by two three-pointers by Terrone Sheffey, who finished with a career-high 23 points. After two free throws pushed Barton's lead back to five, a layup by Richard Barbee with 14 seconds left closed the lead back to three.

On the ensuing inbounds pass, R.D. Dowdy got behind the Abbey defense and slammed home two of his 12 points to extend the lead back to five. Two more free throws from Barbee, coming with five seconds left, cut the lead back to three.

After an Abbey foul, Barton's L.J. Dunn sank two free throws to again move the lead to three. Good then buried a three-pointer to inch the Crusaders back to two points, but Mammel's two free throws were the difference.

Sheffey led all scorers with 23 points on nine of 14 shooting. He also had five steals and two assists. Good posted 18 points, 14 in the first half, on seven of 13 shooting. Barbee chipped in with 14 points, all in the second half, with five assists and a steal. Kyle Phillips posted 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds with one blocked shot and a steal. The Abbey shot 45.6 percent (31-68) from the floor.

Barton shot 51.9 percent (27-52) as Jaren Haley led four Bulldogs in double figures with 19 points. Dunn added 17, while Gerald Boston chipped in with 16. Dowdy finished with 12.