Belmont Abbey junior guard Richard Barbee led the Crusaders with 20 points, but the Abbey fell at Erskine 67-55 this evening in Due West, South Carolina. Erskine improves to 9-12 overall and 6-8 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey falls to 11-10 overall and 7-8 in Conference Carolinas.

Barbee led the Abbey with 20 points on three of eight shooting from the field with seven rebounds, one assist and one steal. Senior guard Patrick Kuhlman added 12 points on four of five shooting, all from three-point range, with a pair of assists. Tyshawn Good chipped in with ten points, two assists and two steals. Belmont Abbey shot 38 percent from the field (18-54) with 13 field goals assisted. Jay Council led the Crusaders with four assists.

Erskine shot 68 percent as Brandon Wright led all scorers with 24 points, one of three Flying Fleet players to reach double figures. Dejan Nedelkovski added 12 points and Chris Gore chipped in with 11 and a game-high eight rebounds. Erskine won the rebounding battle 34-22.

The Flying Fleet led for the majority of the half as its lead grew to as high as 12 points at 25-13, and would take a 32-21 advantage into the halftime break.

In the second half, Erskine's lead grew to as high as 19 points at 48-29 with 12:46 remaining before an Abbey run chopped the lead down to nine points at 64-55 with 2:20 left, but the Fleet scored the final three points of the game to provide the winning margin.