The Bulldogs of 11th-year head coach Ron Lievense improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Carolinas-Virginia Athletics Conference while Coker slipped to 1-4 and 0-1 in the CVAC. Barton is home with Lees-McRae on Saturday night.
Barton raced to a 34-31 halftime lead, but Coker came charging back behind the red-hot shooting of sophomore guard Ben Brim (
But Coker would not quit, pulling within 73-70 at 1:12 on a 3-pointer by Ryan Fulwood. Coker had two chances to tie the game, but missed a shot and turned the ball over. Junior Barton guard Jeff Dalce (
Atkinson led Barton with 18 points and sophomore Bobby Buffaloe (
Lukas Varga and Jason Fulwood tallied 12 points each for the Cobras and Ryan Fulwood chipped in 11.
Coker cashed in 48 percent from downtown and 42.4 percent from 2-point range. Barton was 49.1 percent from the floor and outscored Coker 18-8 from the foul line.