Box Score

SALISBURY, NC – The Blue Bear men's basketball team pulled out another close victory Saturday night as they downed the St. Paul's Tigers 66-63.

With the victory Livingstone improved to 5-1 in the conference and 7-3 overall while the Tigers fell to 0-7 in the CIAA and 1-8 overall.

Senior center Keith Darden scored a season-high 17 points and also pulled down eight boards in the triumph.  Senior guard Megail Cannon fell just short of a double-double as he finished with 15 points and nine boards.  Sophomore forward Greg Henry notched 12 points and senior guard Aaron Caruthers finished with 13 points.

Through the first five minutes of the first half the teams battled back and forth.  As the game clock ticked past the 15 minute mark of the first half the Blue Bears started to take control.  With 11:26 to play in the first half the Blue Bears hit their first double-digit lead of the game of 11 points.  With 8:07 to play the Blue Bears led by 12 points, but the Tigers quickly cut into the lead.  With 3:15 left, the Tigers trailed by only four after a 10-2 run.  St. Paul's George Leseur knocked home a jumper with one second on the clock to get the Blue Bear lead down to five at the half, 37-32.

Darden totaled 11 points in the first half and had four boards.  Cannon scored eight of his points in the first half and Henry had seven points.

Livingstone led by 10 points with 17:50 to go in the second half, but St. Paul's went on an 11-2 run to cut the Blue Bear lead down to one with 12:37 to play in the game.  Livingstone continued to lead over the next eight minutes, but only by the slimmest of margins. 

With 3:43 to play the Tigers took their first lead since the 15:58 mark of the first half at 58-57.  Livingstone retook the lead at 62-61 with 2:14 left after a three-pointer by senior forward Jarred Stockton, his only points of the game.  As the clock ticked under a minute the Blue Bears continued to lead by three.  A jumper by St. Paul's Kendrick Williams with 17 seconds left cut the Livingstone lead to one.  Livingstone hit two of their four free throws in the final 15 seconds to secure the victory.

The Blue Bears shot 45 percent from the field on 24-of-53 shooting including 41 percent from beyond the arc.  The two teams were all-square on the boards at 42.

The Livingstone men will be back in action on Monday night when they go on the road to face the Elizabeth City State Vikings at 7:30 p.m.