Feb. 16, 2008

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Belmont used an 8-0 run midway through the second half to break open a close game and pulled away from USC Upstate for an 82-72 victory Saturday afternoon in the Hodge Center.

Belmont improved to 19-8 overall and 11-2 in the Atlantic Sun Conference, holding onto its lead atop the conference standings. Upstate fell to 6-21 overall and 4-9 in the league.

After Belmont opened a four point lead, 48-44, with 14:45 to play in the game, Upstate answered with a three-pointer from Josh Chavis. Shane Dansby converted a layup to give the Bruins a three point advantage, but Luke Payne tied the game at 50-50 with an old fashion three-point play with 13:07 to play.

Belmont went on an 8-0 run, with three different Bruins scoring in the run, to open a 58-50 lead with 9:23 remaining in the game. Though Upstate would battle and cut into the lead by three points on two different occasions, Belmont held off the Spartans.

"I thought we did some good things in the game today," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "The zone worked well and created some problems for them in the first half. We were hoping to do the same in the second half. When you're playing a team like Belmont, it's all about executing on offense and working hard on the defensive end to not let them get easy looks."

Belmont increased the lead to 10 points with six minutes to play and to 13 with 2:38 remaining before settling for the 10-point winning margin.

Justin Hare led the way for Belmont, finishing with a game-high 19 points. Shane Dansby added a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Keaton Belcher, Matthew Dotson and Alex Renfroe each had 10 for the Bruins.

Payne led Upstate with 18 points, three assists and three steals. Bobby Davis added 10 points and six rebounds, while Gabor Boros tallied 10 points.

The game was close for the first half and half of the second until Belmont made its run midway through the second 20 minutes of play. Upstate came out on fire to open the game, scoring the first seven points of the contest before Hare ended the run with a three-pointer. Dansby followed with a layup, Dotson added a three-pointer and Renfroe converted a layup as Belmont used a 10-0 run to take a 10-7 lead.

The teams continued to battle. With the score tied at 20-20 with 6:08 to play in the first half, Belmont used a 5-0 run to open a 25-20 lead. Upstate caught fire the rest of the half, ending the half on a 17-7 run to take a 37-32 lead into the intermission. The play of the game may very well have been Rashawn Brailsford's fast break dunk with 11 seconds to go that gave Upstate the five-point advantage at the half.

Belmont scored the first five points of the second half to even the game at 37-37. The teams again battled back and forth until the Bruins made their run midway through the half to gain control of the game.

Upstate held Belmont to 40 percent shooting in the first half, but the Bruins responded by shooting over 62 percent from the field in the second half to ignite their run and establish control of the game. Upstate, which shot 48 percent from the floor in the first half, went cold in the second, finishing the second half with a 35.5 percent shooting percentage. The Bruins also held a 42-26 lead on the boards.

"We didn't do a good job in the second half of defending and we didn't execute on offesne," said Payne. "We had too many key execution mistakes."