East No. 2 seed Mount Olive cut a 12-point second half deficit down to four in the final minute, but the rally came up short as the Trojans fell to East No. 3 seed Barton 67-60 in the championship game of the 2012 Conference Carolinas Men's Basketball Tournament Sunday at Kornegay Arena. Craig Hayes led Mount Olive with 20 points, while tournament Most Valuable Player Gerald Boston hit 16-of 18 free throws and led all players with 34 points for Barton.

Hayes and Derek Staton represented Mount Olive on the All-Tournament Team, while Boston was joined by Barton teammates Jaren Haley and Joseph Velez. Daniel Bailey of Queens and Logan Lyle of King were also named to the All-Tournament Team.

Mount Olive (21-8) entered the conference tournament ranked No. 6 in the NCAA II Southeast Region and won 78-74 at No. 5 King Friday in the semifinal round. The Trojans hope for an at-large bid to the Southeast Regional of the 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball Championship. Barton (20-9), which was not ranked in the region, earns an automatic bid to the regional.

The Trojans held a one-point halftime lead and led by four early in the second half after a pair of free throws by Dory Hines. Boston's three-pointer highlighted a run of eight unanswered Barton points as the Bulldogs grabbed a 40-36 lead with 15:54 left to play.

Jordan McCain kept a Trojan possession alive after a missed shot, outwrestling two Barton players for a loose ball and finding Hayes open underneath for a basket. Hayes sank a pair of free throws with 13:44 remaining to tie the game 42-42, but Joseph Velez's putback broke the tie and ignited another Barton scoring run.

Mount Olive went scoreless and committed four turnovers during a four-minute span as Barton built its lead to double figures. The Bulldogs capped a 12-0 run with a highlight-reel play as Haley knocked a pass away in the Trojan frontcourt and went into the stands at midcourt as he saved the ball to Aaron Brown, whose uncontested layup gave Barton a 54-42 lead with 9:59 left in the contest.

Staton's driving layup ended Mount Olive's scoring drought and Hayes turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play to cut the margin to single digits at 56-47 with 8:20 left. Hayes' free throw began a streak of nine consecutive Trojan points from the free throw line as Mount Olive would be held without a field goal until the final minute.

Hines, Mahamed Ibrahim and Jordan McCain combined to hit 4-of-6 attempts to pull the Trojans within 58-52 with 4:58 remaining. Free throws and a driving layup by Boston helped Barton push the lead back to eight points with 2:07 left.

Barton had a chance to extend its lead, but Kendall Hargrove blocked a shot with 1:26 left. Hines hit two free throws for Mount Olive and the Trojans got the ball back on an offensive foul. Ibrahim's putback on a missed three-point attempt pulled Mount Olive within 62-58 with 32 seconds left.

But that would be as close as the Trojans would get as Boston hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 27 seconds to seal the championship. Barton became the first team to win all three tournament games on the road since the conference adopted its current format of highest-seeded teams hosting each round in 2008.

The game got off to a torrid pace as three-pointers by McCain and Staton gave Mount Olive a 10-8 lead barely three minutes into the contest. Boston scored six of Barton's first eight points.

Hayes' layup with 12:29 left in the half broke a 13-13 tie, but the Trojans would go scoreless for nearly six minutes as Barton took its biggest lead of the half. Haley's three-pointer with 7:24 remaining capped a 9-0 run and gave the Bulldogs a 22-15 advantage.

Ibrahim's three-pointer with 6:59 left ended Mount Olive's drought and a three-pointer and layup by Hayes pulled the Trojans within 26-25 with 4:20 remaining. McCain connected on 4-of-4 free throws in the final three minutes, the last two coming with 11 seconds left to give Mount Olive a 31-30 halftime lead.

Ibrahim finished with 12 points and a career-high four blocked shots for Mount Olive, while McCain added 10 points and six rebounds. Staton added nine points, nine rebounds and five assists for the Trojans. Hines pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds and scored all of his eight points from the free throw line, all in the second half.

Boston had six rebounds and six steals for Barton. Velez finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Southeast Regional is an eight-team tournament comprised of tournament champions from Conference Carolinas, the Peach Belt Conference and the South Atlantic Conference, with at-large bids going to the next five highest-ranked teams. Unranked teams captured two of three automatic bids as Wingate won the South Atlantic Conference championship to join Barton in the regional. Peach Belt Conference champion Montevallo was the only regionally ranked team to win its conference tournament.

Mount Olive is seeking its seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament in the last nine years and its first at-large bid since 2007. The Trojans won the Conference Carolinas championship and earned automatic bids in 2008 and 2010.