The Belmont Abbey men's basketball team won its third Conference Carolinas Championship in school history, and the first since 2003, as the fourth-seeded Crusaders defeated the second-seeded Limestone Saints 67-55 tonight at the Timken Center. Belmont Abbey advances to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003 as it improves to 22-9.

Belmont Abbey defeated the conference's top two seeds on the road as it moves to 3-0 in the championship game all-time. Tyshawn Good was named tournament MVP, and Terrone Sheffey and Darryl Durham were named to the all-tournament team.

The Crusaders will learn of its destination Sunday night at 10:30 when the brackets are released.

Belmont Abbey trailed only once, at 2-0 on a Charles Blue layup and led by as many as 15 points three times during the contest. The 2-0 deficit quickly evaporated as the Abbey rolled ahead on a 23-8 run to effectively seal the game. The Crusaders lead never dropped into single digits as they carried a ten point lead into halftime.

Limestone opened the second half on a 10-6 run to slash the lead to six, but the Abbey quickly responded with a mini-run of 7-3 to move the lead back to ten points.

The last three of those seven points came from Ryan Conrad, who entered the game with 38 points for the season. He scored the next ten-straight for the Abbey, which pushed its lead up to 15 points at 52-37 with 11:02 to play.

A Saints run chopped the Abbey's lead down to seven at 58-51 with 6:25 left, but the Abbey answered the challenge by scoring the next eight points to extend the cushion to 14 with 2:50 left.

The lead stayed in double figures from there, as the Abbey claimed its third league title.

Chris Davis led the Abbey with 18 points, while Conrad contributed a career-high 12. Justin Kuhlman and Jay Council both added ten each. Good finished with nine. Belmont Abbey shot 38.7 percent (24-62) from the field.

PJ Foster led the Saints with 12 points, while Philip Moultrie and Rashod Chavis both contributed ten.

The men's basketball championship is the third for the Belmont Abbey Athletics family this school year, joining the women's soccer and women's volleyball teams.