HARTSVILLE, SC – Coker fell behind big in the early stages of the contest against Barton College Thursday night and couldn’t recover in a 79-65 men’s basketball defeat.  Coker drops to 6-21, 4-16 in the CVAC, while Barton moves to 17-10 overall and 13-7 in the conference.

The Bulldogs took advantage of Coker’s ice-cold 1-12 start from the field to open up a 23-3 lead after 10 minutes of play.  The Cobras had no luck making a big dent in the lead and went into the break trailing 38-19.

Coker shot only 27 percent in the half while BC connected on 50 percent of its attempts.  The Bulldogs held a 27-13 rebounding advantage but the Cobras only turned the ball over three times to Barton’s eight.

Coker found their stroke in the second half for 55 percent shooting but still couldn’t find a way to slow Barton down, who shot 59 percent after the break.  BC’s lead never ballooned but hovered around 20 points for most of the second half.  Last minute turnovers by the Bulldogs allowed the Cobras to slash the margin down to the final 14 point differential.

Michael Pierce led CC with 12 points and five rebounds before fouling out.  Four more Coker players scored nine points each in a balanced offensive effort.

Casey Moore tallied 23 points and six rebounds for Barton and Jacoby Key added 19 for the visitors.  Ervin Gregory scored 15 points and grabbed six boards off the bench.

In their final regular season contest, the Cobras will travel to Queens University of Charlotte this Saturday at 4:00 PM.