SUMTER, SC – Turnovers cost the Livingstone men's basketball team as it dropped it's second game in a row Thursday on the road to the Morris Hornets 61-56.

The game was tale of two halves for the Blue Bears.  Livingstone thoroughly dominated the first half, holding the Hornets to only 20 points, but the Blue Bears were outplayed in every aspect of the game by the Hornets in the second half.

Livingstone was forced to get into a very physical contest early in the first half and after a slow start the Blue Bears picked up the tempo.  The first five minutes saw only five points total scored and the Blue Bears led 3-2.  Morris took a 5-3 lead with 14:45 to play, but the Blue Bears turned in an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to take a 14-5 lead.

Livingstone continued to lead as the clock ticked under 10 minutes to play in the first half.  The Blue Bears increased their lead to 10 at 23-13 with eight minutes remaining.  Livingstone maintained their double-digit through the remainder of the first half and held a 34-20 lead at the break.

Freshman forward Tyler Johnson along with senior Megail Cannon and junior Donte Durant each totaled six points in the first half.  Sophomore forward Greg Henry led the Blue Bears with six rebounds in the first half.

Morris, who came into the contest with a 1-7 record, outscored the Blue Bears 11-4 in the first six minutes of the second half to get within seven at 38-31.  Despite a short lull in the Hornet scoring, Livingstone couldn't stop the bleeding.  With nine minutes left in the game the Blue Bear lead was gone and the game was tied at 43-43.

The Hornets grabbed their first lead since the 14:45 mark of the first half with 7:33 to play at 46-43.  A 7-3 Livingstone run got he Blue Bears the lead back at 50-49 with 4:30 left and then the teams started going back and forth.  The score was tied at 54-54 with 1:44 to play.  Morris went up 55-54 with 56 seconds to go and turnovers in the final minute cost the Blue Bears the victory.

Durant led the Blue Bears with 11 points and Cannon was also in double figures with 10 points.  Livingstone turned the ball over 25 times and went only 4-for-14 at the free-throw line in the second half.

As a team the Blue Bears shot 35 percent from the field, 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc, but converted only seven of 18 free throw attempts.  The Blue Bears won the rebound battled 53-41, but lost the turnovers 31-18.  The Hornets scored 26 points off of the Livingstone mistakes.

With the loss, the Blue Bears fell to 7-5 overall on the season and Morris improved to 2-7.

The Blue Bears will return to Trent Gym on Saturday, January 16 when they host the Bowie State University Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m.