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Bulldogs knock off Limestone
Casey Moore led all five starters in double figures with 20 points as No. 12-ranked Barton defeated the No. 4-seeded Saints, 82-63, Friday in a CVAC tournament semifinal. Less than two weeks ago, the sloppy Bulldogs lost by doubledigits at Limestone. Barton captured the tournament on Saturday in a double-overtime victory over Mt. Olive. “We didn’t play well and Barton played awfully well,” Limestone coach Larry Epperly said. “They had great balance. And we weren’t as sharp as we’ve been the last three weeks.” The Bulldogs never trailed as Anthony Atkinson’s three-pointer made it a double-digit lead at 23-13 with 10:25 left in the first half. Limestone cut the deficit to 25-20 on an Alex Bailey three-pointer, but Moore responded with a trey. The lead never got under eight points the rest of the way. Moore then connected on a three-pointer at the buzzer to put the Bulldogs on top 41-28 at halftime. Barton opened the second half on a run to go up by 15. Limestone’s only senior, Marquintus Jones, scored on a three-point play to trim the margin to 10. But Atkinson and Alejo Barovero keyed an 11-2 run to extend the advantage to 18. The Saints couldn’t draw any closer than 13 the remainder of the game. Atkinson had 17 points and Mark Friscone added 14 and a game high nine rebounds. Bobby Buffaloe had 11 points for Barton. Shawn Poppie, who was named to the all-tournament team, paced the Saints with 16 points. Jones added 11 points, six assists and five rebounds. Limestone finishes the season at 15-14 its second straight winning season. “We had a great year,” Epperly said. “We lost three starters from last year and finished tied for third in the league.” But Epperly said Jones will be hard to replace. “He was more valuable than just his stats show,” the coach said. |
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