The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team held off a late North Georgia charge, as junior guard Jay Council's two free throws with sixth tenths of a second left sealed a 72-69 win over the Saints this afternoon at the Wheeler Center. The win ups the Abbey ledger to 7-3, while North Georgia drops to 5-5.

The Crusaders, which led by as much as ten points in the second half, received a team-high 20 points from junior guard Tyshawn Good, who sank seven of 14 field goal attempts and all four of his free throws. Kyle Phillips added 15 on seven of ten shooting with two assists and two blocked shots. Council added 14 on six of 15 shooting with six rebounds. Matthew Graves posted eight points and a team-high eight rebounds. Belmont Abbey shot 45 percent (30-66) from the floor, but made just two of 13 (15 percent) from three-point range, and the Crusaders won the battle of the boards by a 41-39 count.

North Georgia shot 41 percent (25-60) as Clarence Tillman led all players with 21 points. Tillman scored 17 of those in the first half, but was held without a field goal in the final 20 minutes, scoring all four of his second half points from the free throw line. He was nine for nine from the stripe and six of 15 from the floor. Pat Moynihan added 16 points and three assists, and Scott Windon posted 14 points on seven of nine shooting and tied Tillman with a game-high nine rebounds. He also had five steals.