MISENHEIMER, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team let a 13-point halftime lead slip through their fingers Sunday as it fell to the Catawba Indians 82-78 in their opening game of the 2009-2010 season.

Livingstone was led by senior guard Megail Cannon who contributed 21 points in the loss.  Junior guard Jarred Stockton also added 19 points and 11 rebounds.

The Blue Bears jumped all over the Indians in the early-going as they held an 11-point lead just over five minutes into the first half.  Catawba quickly turned the tables, going on a 9-0 run over the next 1:33 to cut the Livingstone lead to two at 16-14.  The Blue Bears slowly rebuilt their lead to double-digits as their largest lead of the first half came with 3:11 left as they led by 14 at 42-28.  Livingstone held a 13-point advantage at the half 46-33.

In the first half, Livingstone hit 48 percent of their shots from the field to Catawba's 25 percent.  Livingstone also hit five of their seven three-point attempts.

To start the second half, Livingstone was able to maintain their double-digit edge through the first 10 minutes of the half, at the 9:19 mark of the second half, the Indians started cutting into the Blue Bear lead.

With 2:38 remaining in the contest, the Blue Bears were still clinging to a seven-point lead.  In a span of 34 seconds the Indians were able to cut the Livingstone lead to just three with four made free throws.  The Blue Bear lead was cut to just one with 1:30 to play and after a Livingstone turnover, the Indians took their first lead since they led 3-1, just 72 seconds into the game.

Over the last 49 seconds of the game, as Livingstone was attempting to make a comeback, the Blue Bears turned the ball over three times including a turnover with only five seconds on the clock with the Blue Bears down only one.  Catawba connected on three of four free throw attempts over the last four seconds to seal the victory.

As a team the Blue Bears hit 50 percent of their shots from the field while Catawba hit on 37 percent of their shots.  Catawba held a slight advantage on the boards as the Indians pulled down 50 rebounds to the Blue Bears' 46.  Livingstone also turned the ball over 29 times which led to 19 Catawba points.

Livingstone will now play in the consolation match Monday at 5 p.m. against Pfeiffer who fell to Cheyney.