Trailing 75-66 with 5:15 to play, its largest deficit of the game, the Belmont Abbey men's basketball team outscored North Greenville 17-4 the rest of the way to seal its third-straight win with a 83-79 victory over the visiting Crusaders in the Conference Carolinas opener for both teams. The Abbey moves to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in Conference Carolinas, while North Greenville drops to 2-2 overall and 0-1 in Conference Carolinas.

Belmont Abbey, which led by as many as ten points in the second half, found itself trailing 75-66 after a Chris Dean three-pointer with 5:15 to play, but a 13-3 spurt over the next two minutes allowed the Crusaders to regain the lead. Jay Council started the run with a free throw. He then missed the second, but Darryl Durham beat his man, grabbed the rebound and layed in two of his six points to slice the lead to six.

After a North Greenville missed jumper, Tyshawn Good swished home a three-pointer to close the lead to five. Dean halted the run with a layup to move the lead back to five, but a layup by Durham cancelled that to close back to three. North Greenville's Tim Franklin then hit the second of two free throws to move the North Greenville cushion back to four, but another Good three-pointer, this from the left wing, brought the Abbey back to within one at 78-77 with 2:45 to go.

On North Greenville's next possession, Good stepped in front of his man on a post entry pass and stole the ball, and Council's ensuing layup gave the Abbey a 79-78 lead with 2:18 to go, the first Crusader lead since the 8:34 mark.

23 seconds later, on North Greenville's next possession, Tim Mason swatted away the ball from Franklin. Council converted another layup to push the lead to three with 1:55 left.

North Greenville's Zack Shields was fouled on the next NGU possession, and his first free throw was true, and it turned out to be the last points of the night for the Crusaders, cutting the Abbey's lead to 81-79.

After missed shots on both ends, North Greenville called two timeouts in the last 15 seconds. With four seconds left, Franklin got behind Good and fired a three-pointer that hit the back iron, and Council corralled the rebound, his tenth and final rebound of the night. He was immediately fouled, and with one second left he sank his eighteenth and nineteenth points of the night to seal the win.

Council registered his second double double in as many games with 19 points on seven of 13 shooting, with ten rebounds. He also had three assists and two steals. Good also registered 19 points on seven of 15 shooting, including five of ten from three-point range, with four steals and three assists. Kyle Phillips added 11 points, three assists and two steals, while Terrone Sheffey and Ryan Conrad both finished with ten points. All ten of Conrad's points came on three three-pointers and a free throw. Belmont Abbey shot 45 percent (32-71) from the floor and was 11-26 from three-point range.

Luke Lattimer led all scorers with 27 points on ten of 13 shooting, including six three-pointers on eight attempts. Dean added 20 points on eight of 12 shooting and finished with four assists. Paul Harrison added 16 on five of ten shooting as North Greenville shot 57 percent (28-49) from the floor and 11 of 21 from three-point range. Eight of North Greenville's 11 three-pointers came in the second half.