Belmont Abbey senior guard Tyshawn Good led the Abbey with 26 points and junior forward Darryl Durham posted 16 points and 14 rebounds as the Crusaders men's basketball team held off a late charge to defeat Catawba, 88-81 this afternoon at the Wheeler Center. Belmont Abbey moves to 7-2, while Catawba falls to 3-5.

The Crusaders led by as many as 22 points and carried a 50-35 lead into halftime as they shot 57 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes. Catawba led just once, by a point with just under five minutes played.

Catawba's Tyrece Little converted a jumper with 8:06 to play to close the Abbey's lead to eight, but the Crusaders responded with an 18-5 run to open up their biggest lead of the half, 21 points, at 48-27 with 3:27 left. Catawba countered with an 8-2 run to close the half to cut its deficit to 50-35.

Belmont Abbey opened the second half on a tear, going on a 16-9 run to increase its lead to the highest of the game, 22 points, with 13:24 to go. Catawba clawed back with a run of its own over the next seven minutes to slice the Abbey lead to just seven at 71-64 with 7:46 to go.

A Chris Davis jumper stopped the bleeding momentarily, but Catawba scored the next five points, using a free throw from Little and a three-pointer from Reggie Perkins, to cut the lead to five with 5:27 left.

Davis was fouled on the Abbey's next trip down the floor and his two free throws pushed the lead back to seven, which started a 6-0 mini-run to move the lead back to double digits at 79-68 with 4:29 to go.

Catawba did not go away quietly, as it scored the next eight points, fueled exclusively by Elon Edwards, to cut the Abbey lead to just three with 1:10 to go. Edwards, who finished with 32 points, drained a pair of three pointers and finalized the run with a running layup.

The Abbey responded for the final time, as Good sank a jumper on the Crusaders next possession to move the lead back to five. After a Catawba foul, Durham hit the first of two free throws with 42 seconds left to push the lead to six. Catawba missed a three-pointer on its next trip, and Good grabbed the rebound and raced down court to sink the layup to move the lead to eight with 26 seconds left.

Perkins missed a three on the Indians next trip, and Durham's rebound and outlet pass to Good forced Catawba to foul. Good sank the two free throws, with 16 ticks left, to move the lead to ten.

Edwards converted a jumper for his 29th point with 11 seconds left, but forced to foul, the Indians fouled Good, whose pair of free throws with eight ticks left moved the lead back ten.

Edwards sank a long-distance three with two seconds left, for his 32nd point of the night, to close the scoring.

Good led four Crusaders in double figures with 26 points on nine of 20 shooting from the field. Terrone Sheffey added 18 and three assists. Davis and Durham both added 16. Durham's 14 rebounds are three shy of his season-high as the Crusaders won the boards by a 45-36 count. Justin Kuhlman handed out six assists, the first four coming in the first eight minutes of the game. Belmont Abbey shot an even 50 percent from the floor (34-68).

Catawba shot 45 percent as Edwards led all scorers with 32 points on 13-20 shooting. Perkins added 17 and Little netted 16.