The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team led by as many as 20 points in the second half and held off a late Mount Olive charge to earn an 83-77 win over the visiting Trojans this evening at the Wheeler Center. The Abbey, winners of five of its last seven, move to 14-7 overall and 8-3 in Conference Carolinas, while Mount Olive, which had its six game winning streak snapped, drops to 14-7 overall and 7-4 in Conference Carolinas.

A Matthew Graves layup with 9:11 left put the Crusaders ahead by 20, but Mount Olive outscored the Abbey 29-12 over the next nine minutes to close the gap to just two at 79-77 with 49 seconds left. With 26 seconds showing, and the shot clock at zero, Terrone Sheffey stopped the bleeding with a turnaround jumper to give the Abbey some breathing room at 81-77.

On its next possession, Mount Olive missed a shot that Sheffey pulled down and started the break upcourt. He passed off to Tyshawn Good who was fouled on the sideline. He hit the final two of his 20 points from the free throw line with eight seconds left to seal the win.

The Crusaders led 47-35 at the half on the strength of a 51 percent shooting performance, and forced ten Trojan turnovers. Mount Olive outscored the Abbey 42-36 in the second half.

Good led the Abbey with 20 points, while Graves added 13. Sheffey finished with 11 and four assists, while Jay Council posted ten and three assists. Belmont Abbey shot 49.2 percent (31-63) from the floor and won the rebounding battle 37-33. Graves's eight rebounds led all players.

Mount Olive was led by Craig Hayes's 26 points, 22 coming in the second half, and 14 in the final 8:56. He finished 13-18 from the floor. Mahamed Ibrahim added 15 points on five of eight shooting, all from three-point range. Derek Staton added 12 as the Trojans shot 51.7 percent (30-58) from the field, but were hampered by just nine free throws in 22 attempts (40.9 percent).