LINCOLN, PA – Aaron Caruthers connected on a 12-foot jumper as time expired to complete another second-half comeback as the Livingstone men's basketball team defeated the Lincoln University Lions Monday evening 82-80.
For the second time in eight days the Blue Bear men's basketball team came back from a 15-point second-half deficit to win. The victory also extended the team's wining streak to four games.
The game was tied at 80 with 34 seconds showing on the clock after two free throws by the Lions. The Blue Bears brought the ball across the time line and called a timeout to set up their offense. Out of the timeout and after 18 seconds of moving the ball, the team got trapped in a corner and was forced to use another timeout.
The ball went to Caruthers on the inbound and he dribbled the ball near the center circle for a few seconds before driving to the left of the basket. Caruthers stopped and put up a 12-foot jumper with about four seconds on the clock. The ball circled the rim once and teetered on the edge before falling as the buzzer sounded for a Blue Bear victory.
Senior guard Megail Cannon led the Blue Bears with 22 points and came up one rebound shy of a double-double. Sophomore forward Greg Henry completed the double-double with 12 points and 13 boards. Junior guard Jarred Stockton, Caruthers and junior guard Donte Durant also scored in double figures.
Livingstone and Lincoln matched each other almost shot for shot in the first half. The Lions got out to an early 5-0 lead, but quickly got back in the contest with threes from Cannon and Stockton and tied Lincoln at 10-10. Livingstone took its first lead of the game behind another three from Stockton with a 15-12 edge over the Lions.
The Blue Bears led by five at 22-17, but a 6-0 run by the Lions gave them the lead back at 23-22. The teams traded buckets up and down the floor and were tied at 36-36 with under two minutes on the clock after three free throws from Cannon. Despite the tie at 36, Lincoln took the final five points of the first half to take a 41-36 halftime lead.
Cannon led the Blue Bears with 13 points and eight rebounds at the half. Stockton also had nine points, all from beyond the three-point arc. Livingstone shot 41.9 percent from the field in the first half including 45.5 percent from long range.
Lincoln came out quick in the second half and took 13 of the first 16 points to grab a 15-point lead over the Blue Bears at 54-39. Livingstone slowly cut into the Lion lead and trailed by 11 with 12:35 on the clock. After a Lincoln timeout and subsequent turnover, Durant knocked down a three-pointer to get the Blue Bears within eight at 59-51.
Livingstone got within four after Stockton connected on one of two free throws, but Lincoln marched down the court and sank a trey to go back up 63-56. Up and down the court over the next few minutes, each time the Blue Bears got a slight bit closer, the Lions responded to bump their lead back up.
With just over five minutes to go Lincoln was clinging to a three-point edge. After a Livingstone missed shot on the offensive end, Lincoln charged down the court and Caruthers who was one of only two Blue Bear defenders back against four Lion attackers stood firm just to the left of the basket and took a hard charge. This sparked a 4-0 Livingstone run as they regained the lead 73-72 on a Henry dunk.
With just over two minutes to go the Blue Bears led by four at 80-76, but Lincoln took the next four points to tie the game at 80 and set up the Caruthers winner.
As a team the Blue Bears shot 44.8 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from the three-point line and 63.6 percent from the charity stripe. Livingstone pulled down 43 rebounds to Lincoln's 31, but did commit six more turnovers.
With the victory the Blue Bears improved to 4-2 overall while Lincoln fell to 0-6. The game did not count in the conference standings since Lincoln is not a full member of the CIAA.
The Blue Bear men will finish the fall semester of play with a home contest against Morris College on Thursday, December 3 at 6:00 p.m.
