Box Score BELMONT, N.C. – Queens University of Charlotte held on for a 75-72 win over Belmont Abbey College in men's basketball action despite late comeback efforts by the Crusaders. Queens moves to 12-5 overall and 7-0 in Conference Carolinas, while the Abbey drops to 10-6 overall and 4-2 in Conference Carolinas.
The Crusaders trailed by 19 on three different occasions in the first half, the last being 39-20 with 6:18 to play. Queens built its lead with the three-point shot, converting seven of 12 from beyond-the-arc. The Crusaders outscored the Royals 15-7 the rest of the way to close the lead to 11 at 46-35 at the break.
In the second half the Abbey outscored the Royals 37-29 as it began to whittle down the lead. The Crusaders scored two of the first three baskets in the half to close to within nine, but Queens pushed it back to 12 on a
Brandon Nichols (Fayetteville, N.C., Jack Britt) jumper. Back-to-back layups from the Crusaders chopped the deficit to eight, and a jumper from the home team after a Royals free throw closed the gap to seven at 54-47 with 15:58 to go.
Both teams traded baskets from there until an Abbey mini-run pulled it to within six, its closest of the game since the early moments, on a jumper by Tim Mason. After a three-pointer from Queen's
Daniel Bailey (Irmo, S.C., Hammond ), Belmont Abbey answered with one of its own helping the Abbey move to within five at 62-57 with 7:18 left.
The Royals responded with a 5-0 flurry to extend their lead back to ten, but an 11-2 Crusader jaunt over the next three minutes brought the Queens lead down to just one at 69-68 with 2:58 to go.
Bailey and
Antonio Stabler (Garner, N.C., Wakefield) then took over scoring back-to-back buckets to put Queens back up by five.
Sean Eads (Greenville, S.C., Eastside) put insurance points on the board at the foul line capping Queens' 6-4 run to close the game.
Nate Blackburn (Burlington, N.C., Graham) led Queens with 15 points on five of ten shooting, all from three-point range. Stabler added 13, while Bailey and Nichols added ten each. Queens shot 51-percent from the field and 52-percent from three-point range (10-19).
Tyshawn Good led all scorers with 19 points, while Terrone Sheffey added 15 and four assists. Kyle Phillips and Jay Council added ten each. Phillips posted three blocked shots and six rebounds. The Crusaders shot 53-percent from the field but were just five of 15 from three-point range.
The Royals will continue conference play at Mount Olive College on Wednesday in a game slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.
