Trailing 33-32 at halftime, the Belmont Abbey men's basketball team outscored Lees-McRae 48-34 in the second half as the Crusaders earned an 80-67 win in Banner Elk this evening. The Abbey moves to 8-8 overall and 4-5 in Conference Carolinas, while Lees-McRae drops to 3-12 overall and 0-8 in Conference Carolinas.

Sophomore guard Tyshawn Good led all scorers with a career-high 26 points, while senior guard Richard Barbee added 17 and junior forward Kyle Phillips added 10. Good accumulated nearly a point a minute, scoring 26 points in 27 minutes, sinking eight of 16 shots from the field, including all ten of his free throws. 18 of his points came in the second half. He also had five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Barbee registered a double double with 17 points and 11 rebounds to go along with four assists and three steals. Phillips also logged a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. He also had two blocked shots.

The Crusaders shot 45.3 percent (29-64) for the contest but a torrid 58.1 output (18-31) in the second half as it erased the one point halftime deficit. Lees-McRae shot 36.5 percent (23-63) for the game as Adam McFerran led four Bobcats in double figures with 17 points. He also had 10 rebounds. Tevin Friday added 12 while Matt Eller and Daniel Sepokas both finished with 11.

Belmont Abbey scored the first three points of the game but Eller tied the game at three with a trifecta, followed by two free throws from Barbee that put the Crusaders back on top. Lees-McRae regained the lead as it scored the next eight points, getting threes from Eller and McFerran and a layup from Sepokas. McFerran's three put the Bobcats up by six, 11-5 with 15:31 left.

Lees-McRae held that lead, building it to as high as seven points for the next 15 minutes until the Crusaders shrank the Bobcats lead from seven at 25-18 with 6:11 left, to tying the contest at 32 with 1:27 left. The Crusaders went on a 14-6 run that was fueled by Good and Darryl Durham. Good scored six points and Durham contributed four, and Barbee capped the flurry with a four-point play as he connected on a three while being fouled. His ensuing free throw deadlocked the game at 32 with 1:27 to go. Lees-McRae broke the tie as Friday hit a free throw with 37 seconds left to give the Bobcats a 33-32 halftime lead.

The Bobcats opened the second half on a 9-4 run to extend their advantage to seven points at 43-36 with 17:13 showing, but the Abbey cancelled that with a 7-0 run of its own, getting layups from Jay Council, Durham and a traditional three-point play from Good that tied the game at 43 with 14:56 to go.

After two Bobcat free throws and Barbee jumper tied the game again, Good gave the Crusaders their first lead since the early moments of the first half with a short jumper. Lees-McRae countered with a three-pointer to put it back up by one, but a 6-4 mini-run by the Abbey, capped off by two Good free throws with 10:44 left, gave the Crusaders the lead for good.

Good's two free throws ignited a 14-2 Crusader run that pushed their lead to ten points at 64-54 with 6:06 left. Five different Crusaders scored during the run, which was capped by a Matthew Graves layup.

Lees-McRae chopped the lead down to six at 64-58 with 4:57 to go, but Good scored the next seven unanswered points to advance the lead to 12 points at 71-59 with 4:01 showing. The Bobcats could only get as close as seven points at 73-66 with 2:36 left, but the Abbey closed the game by scoring seven of the game's last eight points, four by Good, as the Abbey won by 13 points.

The Crusaders won the rebounding edge 46-40 and forced 20 Lees-McRae turnovers. The Abbey registered 12 fast break points to just two for the Bobcats.

Barbee's 17 points gives him 1,755 for his career, which moves him into sixth place on the school's all-time list. He is 15 points away from fifth.