Belmont Abbey senior guard Richard Barbee led the Crusaders with 28 points, but Barton's Jaren Haley led all scorers with 33 and L.J. Dunn added 28 as the Bulldogs earned a 112-87 home win over the visiting Crusaders this evening in a Conference Carolinas matchup. Barton moves to 16-9 overall and 11-6 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey falls to 12-12 overall and 7-9 in Conference Carolinas.

Barbee netted 28 points on eight of 16 shooting from the field and sank 12 of his 13 free throw attempts. He added nine rebounds, two assists and a steal in 38 minutes. His 28 points gives him 1,952 for his career. Kyle Phillips chipped in with 20 points on eight of 14 shooting with five rebounds in 35 minutes. Tyshawn Good came off the bench to contribute 11 points on two of seven shooting, but he made all seven of his free throw attempts.

The Crusaders shot 48.3 percent (28-58) from the field but converted just four of 11 (36.4 percent) from three-point range. Barton shot 59.7 percent (37-62) from the floor, including a 52.4 percent output (11-21) from three-point range. Both teams had identical free throws made an attempted (27-33).

Haley led all scorers with 33 points on 11-15 shooting, including eight for 11 from three-point range. Dunn canned 28 on 11-13 shooting from the floor. Gerald Boston added 21 points and 15 assists. He attempted nine shots, making six, including two out of three from beyond the arc. Jo Jo Velez chipped in with 14 on a nearly perfect shooting night, converting all four of his field goals and six of seven free throws.

The Abbey's largest lead of the game was six points that came at 16-10 with 13:53 to play in the first half. Consecutive three-pointers from Haley tied the game at 16, and a free throw from Boston at the 12:52 mark gave the Bulldogs the lead for good. Barton's cushion grew to as high as 15 points at 44-29 with 4:10 go in the opening stanza. A 12-7 Crusader run over the next three and a half minutes, capped off by a traditional three-point play from Barbee, cut the deficit to nine with 34 seconds left. Boston hit a three with 11 seconds showing to push the lead back to 12, but Barbee was fouled with one second left, and he converted the second of two free throws to cut Barton's lead to 11, 54-43, at the half.

Belmont Abbey opened the second half on an 11-6 run to chop the lead down to six at 60-54 with just under four minutes gone by. A three pointer by Jay Council capped the run, but Barton responded with a two Haley three-pointers around a Barbee layup to push the lead back to ten. The margin rose to 13 at 71-58 on another Haley three pointer, but the Crusaders responded with a 9-2 run to slice the lead back down to six at 73-67 with 11:45 to play. Barton countered with an 8-0 run of its own to push its lead back to double digits, where it would stay for the rest of the game.

The lead grew to as high as 27 points, and the Bulldogs would win by by 25, 112-87.