VIDEO: Barton men hold on for 87-83 win over Lenoir-Rhyne

December 8, 2009

WILSON, N.C. — Barton College nearly gave away a double-digit lead in the final minute of Tuesday night's game with Lenoir-Rhyne, but Gerald Boston went 6-for-6 from the line in the final 20 seconds to preserve an 87-83 home victory for the Bulldogs.

Barton, which had been taken to double-overtime at Lenoir-Rhyne two weeks ago before winning, seemed to have the return meeting well in hand when Jaren Haley made a layup with 48 seconds left, giving the Bulldogs an 81-70 lead. However, D.J. Blackmon made a 3-pointer, Haley missed two free throws for Barton, and Kameka Walls made another 3-pointer for the Bears to cut the L-R deficit to five with 22 seconds to play.

Boston made two free throws for Barton to push the lead back to seven, then the Bears' Alex Watkins made the first of two free throws and missed the second, but Lenoir-Rhyne got the offensive rebound and Walls sank another 3-pointer to cut the L-R deficit to just three at 83-80 with 11 seconds to go.

Lenoir-Rhyne again fouled Boston, who made two more free throws, but Walls banked in a 3-pointer with one second to play to cut the deficit to two points, 85-83. From there, the final drama for Barton was getting the ball in-bounded, which they did to Boston, who sank his last two free throws to produce the 87-83 final margin.

Free throws played a pivotal part in the game for the Bulldogs, now 5-1. Barton had 40 attempts from the charity stripe in the game, making 34 (85 percent). Lenoir-Rhyne also shot over 80 percent from the line, but only on 13-of-16 attempts.

Lenoir-Rhyne, now 2-5, made up the difference with 3-point shooting. After making just 2 of 10 in the opening half, the Bears drained 8-of-16 from behind the arc in the second half to keep the game close.

Barton had pulled out to a double-digit advantage midway through the first half, 27-16, but L-R made a run late in the period to cut the deficit to four points at the half. Barton again opened up a double-digit advantage early the second half, and led by as many as 14 points with 13:24 to go. The Bulldogs led by as many as seven points the rest of the half until the final minute.

L.J. Dunn produced 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Bulldogs in both categories. Eddie Kershaw chipped in 17 points and six rebounds, while Haley had 16 points behind 4-of-9 shooting from 3-point range. In addition to 11 points, Boston had a game-high 12 assists.

Lenoir-Rhyne was paced by Blackmon, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. Watkins added 13 points, while Marcus Hodges contributed 11 points.

Barton returns to action on Saturday when it travels to Winthrop University for a 7 p.m. tipoff.  Lenoir-Rhyne is idle until Dec. 18, when it faces St. Augustine's College in a tournament in Savannah, Ga.

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