Trailing 42-32 at the half, the Belmont Abbey men's basketball team outscored Erskine 42-31 in the second half, as the Crusaders seized control of the game in the last four minutes, as the Abbey earned a 74-73 road win this afternoon at Belk Arena. The two teams split the season series, as both games were decided by a total of three points. Belmont Abbey improves to 10-4 overall and 3-3 in Conference Carolinas, while Erskine drops to 8-3 overall and 4-3 in Conference Carolinas.

Erskine, which led by as many as 17 points in the first half, built a ten point halftime lead on the strength of 58 percent shooting from the floor. Erskine led 38-22 with 4:46 to go in the opening stanza, but the Crusaders trimmed it down to ten using a 12-4 run, capped off by a Darryl Durham jumper with 49 seconds left to close the scoring.

Tyshawn Good opened the second half with a jumper to chop the deficit down to eight, but that was answered by a three pointer by Jake Haslam to move the lead back to 11. The Abbey countered with a 16-5 run over the next eight minutes to deadlock the game at 50 with 11:58 to go.

1:12 later, two free throws from Terrone Sheffey gave the Abbey its first lead since the 18:37 mark of the first half. Chris Davis added another free throw on the Abbey's next possession to extend the cushion to three.

Belmont Abbey maintained its lead, which never rose any higher than three points, over the next several minutes before a DeShaun Hall jumper with 7:11 to play briefly put the Flying Fleet ahead. Briefly, as Sheffey gave the Crusaders the lead right back on their next trip down the floor with a three-pointer which ignited a 6-0 mini-run that widened the Abbey lead to five at 63-58 with 6:07 left.

Erskine countered with a 6-0 run of its own to take a one point lead at 64-63 with 4:27 to go, but the Fleet would never lead again. Jay Council put the Abbey ahead for good with a three-pointer with 3:57 showing.

After a missed jumper on Erskine's next possession, Davis moved the lead to four with a short jumper. The Crusaders moved their lead to as high as five, and Erskine mustered one last charge. Belmont Abbey held a five point lead, 73-68 with 27 seconds left, and a jumper by Mike Gabbard with 26 ticks left cut the lead to three.

17 seconds later, the Abbey fouled Gabbard, and he netted the free throw to cut the lead down to two. After a Crusader possession came up empty, Gabbard was fouled with three seconds left. He missed the first free throw but made the second to close the lead to one.

Sheffey was fouled on the inbounds pass, with two seconds left, and he made the second free throw after he missed the first to push the lead to 74-72.

Erskine had one last chance, as Gabbard was fouled on the inbounds pass. Once again, Gabbard made the first to cut the deficit to one, but missed the second, and the rebound went out of bounds in the Abbey's favor to seal the win.

Belmont Abbey shot 45 percent as Good and Sheffey both led the way with 18 points. Davis added 16 and Durham contributed 14. Davis and Durham both had seven rebounds, while Council and Sheffey both grabbed six.

Erskine shot 56 percent as Roderick Perkins led all scorers with 19 points, while Hall added 16. Corey Sorrell netted 12, while Gabbard and Haslam scored 11 each. Hall's ten rebounds led all players.