Box Score
ETTRICK, VA – Head coach James Stinson has preached all season that the Livingstone men's basketball team must be able to finish games. Saturday evening the Blue Bears failed to do so against the Virginia State Trojans as they fell 80-79.
With the score knotted at 79-79 and 33 seconds on the clock the Blue Bears had a chance to win the game. Senior guard Aaron Caruthers dribbled the ball near midcourt and ticked the clock down to just over 10 seconds when he started to drive. As he passed the free throw line, Caruthers was met by a Trojan defender who stole the ball and both went to the floor.
As they wrestled for the ball on the ground, Caruthers was called for a foul which sent the Trojans to the charity stripe to shoot two shots. The Trojans connected on the first free throw, but missed the second and Greg Henry rebounded the ball. He threw the ball to Caruthers near midcourt who took the ball and dribbled just inside the three-point line. Caruthers went up for a shot, but never got it off prior to the buzzer.
Livingstone and Virginia State battled back and forth in the first half with neither team able to take control of the contest. The Trojans took the first four points of the game and continued to hold the lead through the first five minutes. The Blue Bears took their first lead of the contest at the 14:40 mark after a Stockton three-pointer.
The teams traded buckets up and down the court over the final 10 minutes of the first half. Livingstone's largest lead of six points came with 5:10 remaining in the half at 36-30. Virginia State took the final three points of the first half to get themselves within one point 41-40 at the break.
Megail Cannon led the Blue Bears in the first half with 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting while Jarred Stockton added eight points. Virgil Taylor led the Blue Bears on the boards, pulling down four rebounds.
The second half was again a battle as the largest lead either of the teams had for the game was six points. Virginia State's six-point lead came at 69-63 with 7:12 to play in the contest. Despite being down six the Blue Bears fought back. The Blue Bears went on a 13-3 run and took a 76-72 lead with 3:08 remaining.
The Trojans cut the lead to two with 2:45 left, but Caruthers put Livingstone back up three with 1:37 to play. After Virginia State scored to cut the lead to one, Caruthers hit one of two free throws with 1:02 to play to give Livingstone a 79-77 lead. Virginia State tied the contest at 79 with 33 seconds left which set up the final sequence.
Senior forward Megail Cannon led the Blue Bears with 23 points while Caruthers added 15. Also in double-digit scoring was senior forward Jarred Stockton with 11 and sophomore forward Greg Henry with 10. As a team the Blue Bears shot 50.9 percent from the field on 28-of-55 shooting including 53.8 percent from three-point range.
With the loss the Blue Bears fell to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in the conference while Virginia State improved to 2-14 overall and 2-10 in the CIAA.
Livingstone will continue on the road in Virginia on Monday when they travel to play the Virginia Union Panthers for a 7:30 p.m. game.
