Belmont, N.C. – The Lenoir-Rhyne Men's Basketball Team (3-5) fell to Belmont Abbey (4-4) in overtime by an 87-83 score Wednesday night in a non-conference regional game at the Wheeler Center.
The Crusaders' Jacob Wilson (Brisbane, AUSTRALIA) led all scorers with 24 points while Deion Lane (Charlotte, N.C.) added 23 points and 10 rebounds as Belmont Abbey snapped a three-game losing streak.
Lenoir-Rhyne junior guard
Billy Bales (Elizabethton, Tenn.) came off the bench to score a game-high 23 points and hit seven three-pointers despite the loss.
Lenoir-Rhyne senior forward
JacQues Chambers (Maysville, N.C.) added a double-double – 16 points and 10 rebounds – and senior guard
Jalen Variste (Baton Rouge, La.) scored 17 points while the Bears, as a team, hit 14 treys in the setback.
Bales nailed a three-pointer as time ran out in the second half to force overtime with the contest tied at 77 but the Crusaders responded by scoring the final seven points to take the win.
Belmont Abbey's Drexler Clark (Davidson, N.C.) dished out a career-high 16 assists without a turnover and the Crusaders shot 52 percent (33-of-64) from the field on the night in the win.
Lenoir-Rhyne faces Tusculum in a South Atlantic Conference game on Wednesday, December 14, at 8:00 p.m., in Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. Belmont Abbey takes on Erskine on Saturday in Due West, S.C., beginning at 4:00 p.m.
