FERRUM, Va. -- Ferrum College rallied to post a comeback win over Barton College in Conference Carolinas men's basketball action, winning 79-78 tonight at Swartz Gym.

Senior guard Gerren Jones rose to the occasion, scoring 34 points to lead the Panthers back from an 18-point first half deficit.

RECORDS
Barton 4-10, 2-4 CC
Ferrum 6-6, 4-2 CC

THE BASICS
The Bulldogs opened a 15-8 lead in the first three and a half minutes of play. Jones' three-pointer at 15:37 cut the lead to 15-14, but the Bulldogs went on a 16-0 run to take a 31-14 lead at 10:19. Caleb Reams' three-pointer at 9:08 gave the Bulldogs their largest lead, 18 points, at 34-16. Ferrum rallied to get the lead down to 11 late in the half, but trailed 46-32 at the break. 

Ferrum opened the second half with a 16-5 run that got the lead down to 51-48 at 14:09, then Amaris Hunt's three-pointer from the right side tied the game at 51-51 less than a minute later. The Panthers took a 53-51 lead on Jones' layup at 13:23, but Chris Nobles had a layup at the other end of the floor for Barton to knot the score at 53-53 with 12:22 left. Jones countered with a three-pointer from the right side at 11:48 and the Panthers owned a 56-53 lead.

Alfredo Abel-Rivera's put back at 4:49 gave Ferrum a 71-65 lead, then Diaby made a layup at 3:32 to make it a 75-69 lead at 3:29. The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to 77-75 with Trevur Smalls' layup at 1:49, but Jones was fouled at the other end of the floor and knocked down a pair of free throws to make it a 79-75 lead.

Reams drilled a three-pointer for Barton at the one minute mark and Ferrum's lead was down to 79-78. A missed Ferrum three-pointer was rebounded by Barton, who got the ball down the floor and missed a shot with less than three seconds left. The Bulldogs got the rebound and called timeout with 2.4 seconds left, but a last-second shot would not fall and Ferrum held on to complete the comeback. 

KEY STATS
Barton: Smalls 16 pts; Jaylen Faber 15 pts; Trey Fields 14 pts, 7 reb
Ferrum: Jones 34 pts, 6 3FG; Rodrigo Farias 12 pts; Abdulh Diaby 10 pts; Abel-Rivera 9 pts, 9 reb

UP NEXT
Coach Patrick Corrigan's team will be back in action Saturday, January 10, at Emmanuel University in a Conference Carolinas doubleheader in Franklin Springs, Georgia. The women's game tips off at 2:00 p.m., with the men to follow at 4:00 p.m.