Belmont, NC- Erskine men’s basketball continued its dominating post-season play Thursday evening as they crushed No.3 seed Belmont Abbey 69-44.  Erskine knocked off No.2 seed Mount Olive earlier this week and now advance to the conference finals to take on No.1 seed Barton College who defeated Anderson University Thursday 88-69.

Erskine (12-18 overall) got off to a sluggish start in the first half, but was able to take a small 29-24 advantage into the break.  But the Fleet came alive during the second period, shooting 53% from the field and 83% from the charity stripe for 40 second half points while only allowing the Crusaders to put up 20. 

The visiting Fleet out-rebounded the Abbey 44-24, outscored them from three-point land 18-9, and put up 15 points from the free-throw line to the Crusaders’ 9.  Erskine managed to hit 48% from the field while Belmont Abbey struggled to score on 29% of their attempts.

Brandon Wright, the Conference Carolinas regular season scoring champion, led all scorers tonight with 19 points.  Wright also pulled down 5 rebounds for the Fleet. Marko Latinovic added 15 points and 4 rebounds of his own while Victor Street put up 12 points and gathered 5 rebounds.  Jay Boulware earned the only double-double of the evening of 11 points and 10 boards. 

Alex Pledger and Richard Barbee were the only two Crusaders to reach double digits tonight.  They posted 14 and 13 respectively. 

Erskine advances to the Conference Carolinas championship game Saturday at Barton College.  Tip off is scheduled for 7:00 PM. 

STATS

GO FLEET!!!