Belmont Abbey senior guard Richard Barbee recorded a game-high 27 points and the Crusaders drained nine free throws in ten attempts in the final 1:10 to pull away and earn a 90-86 win over the visiting Pfeiffer Falcons this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey snaps a two-game losing streak as it moves to 7-8 overall and 3-5 in Conference Carolinas, while the Falcons drop to 6-9 overall and 4-4 in Conference Carolinas.

The Crusaders led for most of the game until two free throws from Chris Stokes gave the Falcons their first lead of the game at 69-68 with 7:28 showing. The Crusaders countered with a jumper from Matthew Graves to put them up one, but the Falcons answered with a 9-4 run to build their lead to four at 78-74 with 3:21 left.

Belmont Abbey responded in kind, as back-to-back jumpers from Graves and Barbee deadlocked the game at 78 with 2:13 left, followed by a Tyshawn Good layup with 1:42 left that put the Crusaders ahead 80-78.

A three-pointer from Vontae Eaford was matched by a Barbee free throw to deadlock the game for the fifth time, at 81 with 1:10 left. With 45 seconds left, a Pfeiffer foul sent Graves to the line for two shots, and his two attempts swished home as he gave the Abbey the lead for good.

After an ensuing Pfeiffer turnover, the Crusaders inbounded the ball to Barbee with 31 seconds left, and he was able to bleed 12 seconds off the clock before he was fouled. His two free throws were true, and it moved the Abbey cushion to 85-81 with 19 ticks left.

Eight seconds later, Pfeiffer's Reggie Hollinger sank a running layup to whittle the lead down to two. With the Falcons forced to foul, Jeff Pettiway fouled Good with 11 seconds left, and his two free throws extended the lead to four.

Pfeiffer again battled back, as Pettiway drilled a three-pointer with seven seconds to go to trim the lead down to one. With two seconds left, Pettiway fouled Kyle Phillips, who hit the first free throw, but his second one missed. It was rebounded by Pfeiffer's Eli Gillis, but he came down with his foot on the baseline to give the Abbey the ball with two seconds left. After another Falcons foul, Good sealed the win with two free throws with two tenths of a second on the clock.

Belmont Abbey controlled much of the game, leading by as many as ten points in the first half and took a 45-37 lead at the break.

Barbee led all scorers with 27 points on nine of 12 shooting from the floor. Phillips added 19 on seven of 11 shooting, while Good added 15 and Graves chipped in with a career-high of ten. Belmont Abbey shot 58.8 percent from the field.

Chris Woods led Pfeiffer with 26 points on eight of 11 shooting from the field, and sank all ten of his free throw attempts. Hollinger added 17 and Pettiway posted 12. The Falcons shot 52.1 percent from the field. The two teams combined to shoot 62 free throws, as Pfeiffer sank 32 of its 34 attempts while the Abbey was 24-28.