CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The No. 6/6 Queens University of Charlotte men's basketball team (5-1) was held to 39-percent second-half shooting and fell to Belmont Abbey College (4-2), 86-77, in a matchup of regionally-ranked teams on Saturday night at the Levine Center in the final tune-up for conference play.

The Royals jumped out to an early 12-point lead and led 20-8 with 10:51 to play in the first half, but Belmont Abbey countered with a 13-0 scoring run that featured back-to-back 3-pointers from DeQuan Abrom and Tyler Wilson, to take a 21-20 lead with 8:18 remaining in the half.
After Ryan Shaffer drilled a 3 with eight seconds to go, the Crusaders took a two-score lead into halftime, 38-33.

In the second, an Emmanuel Hernandez lay-in stretched the lead to nine, 46-37, with 17:22 to play. After the two sides traded buckets, a little over four minutes later, the BAC lead hit double figures, 56-45, on a Charles Solomon layup.

In the middle of the second half, Queens suffered through a scoring drought that lasted 5:18 in which Belmont Abbey's lead ballooned to 19, 64-45, after a layup by Abrom with 9:07 left.

After the BAC lead reached as many as 22 points, Queens used a late 14-2 run that featured consecutive 3's from Kenny Dye, Daniel Carr, and Van Turner Jr., to cut the deficit to 10, 75-65 with 3:47 remaining. However, the Royals never pulled within nine points in the final minutes.

Carr led Queens with 16 points, six assists, three rebounds, and four steals. Jermaine Patterson scored 13 with seven rebounds, and Turner added 11 points. In total, the Royals shot 41.7 percent from the floor and were held to just seven free-throw attempts for the entire game.

Abrom led BAC with a game-high 27 points and eight rebounds. Romeao Ferguson added 18 points, nine boards and nine assists. The Crusaders shot 57.9 percent from the field and forced 20 Queens turnovers that generated 30 points off of turnovers.

The Royals return to action on Tuesday night in their South Atlantic Conference opener versus Anderson University (3-1) at the Levine Center. Opening tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Live play-by-play coverage will be available on the Queens Sports Network.