Belmont Abbey Wins ConfCarolinas Men's Championship - Mar 10, 2013
The Belm.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. Belm.Abbey advances to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003 as it improves to 22-9.
Belm.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 (6'1''-G) was named tournament MVP, and Terrone Sheffey (6'1''-G) and Darryl Durham (6'7''-F) were named to the all-tournament team.
The Crusaders will learn of its destination Sunday night at 10:30 when the brackets are released.
Belm.Abbey trailed only once, at 2-0 on a Charles Blue (6'6''-F-90) 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 (5'10''-G), 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 (6'2''-G) led the Abbey with 18 points, while Conrad contributed a career-high 12. Justin Kuhlman (6'0''-G) and Jay Council (6'3''-G) both added ten each. Good finished with nine. Belm.Abbey shot 38.7 percent (24-62) from the field.
The men's basketball championship is the third for the Belm.Abbey Athletics family this school year, joining the women's soccer and women's volleyball teams.
All-Tournament MVP:Tyshawn Good (6'1''-G) of Belm.Abbey Player of the Year:Gerald Boston (5'10''-PG) of Barton, NC Defensive Player of the Year:Joe Raga (6'6''-G/F-91) of Limestone Freshman of the Year:Roderick Perkins (6'5''-F) of Erskine Coach of the Year:Brandon Scott of Limestone
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