The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team suffered its first conference loss of the season tonight, dropping a 92-81 decision at the hands of the visiting King College Tornado this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey is now 8-5 overall and 2-1 in Conference Carolinas, while King moves to 12-3 overall and remains unbeaten in Conference Carolinas play at 4-0.

The Crusaders took their only lead of the game at 58-57 with 14:44 to play in the game on a layup by Tyshawn Good, but King regained the lead on its next trip down the floor and held off a late Abbey charge, including a three-pointer by Good that knotted the game at 72 with 8:35 to go.

From there, the Tornado scored eight of the game's next ten points to push the lead back to six, but two free throws from Terrone Sheffey closed the lead to four with 4:24 left, but King answered with a run to move the lead back to seven, and the Crusaders never got to within six again as King pulled away late.

King, which leads all NCAA Division II schools in three-point field goals made per game with 12.3, sank 14 of 31 (45.2 percent) from long-range and was 31-57 (54.4 percent) from the field as Brian Hewett led all scorers with 23 points on eight of 13 shooting. Eddie Piccinini added 20, while Michael Fortune added 17 and Brandon Goss added 15. Goss chipped in with seven assists and Piccinini totaled six.

Good led the Abbey with 21 points, one of five Crusaders to reach double figures. Kyle Phillips added 17 and 11 rebounds for a double double. He also had a blocked shot, a steal and two assists. Sheffey contributed 15, while Jay Council and Matthew Graves netted 12 and ten, respectively. The Abbey shot 45.5 percent (30-66) from the field.