Final Stats
ELKINS, WV – The Livingstone men's basketball team fell on the road to the Davis & Elkins College Senators 90-87 Sunday, after coming up just short of capping off a remarkable comeback from 16 points down.
Livingstone's largest deficit of the game came with 5:36 left in the contest as the Blue Bears trailed by 16. Over the next three minutes, Livingstone was able to cut only three points off the lead, but made their biggest charge in the final 120 seconds.
With 1:56 on the clock, the Blue Bears were within 10, but a three-pointer by Mark Thomas with 1:43 remaining, brought Livingstone within eight at 81-73. As the clock ticked under a minute to play, the Blue Bears continued to trail by five, but a layup by Tyler Johnson with 54 seconds left, brought Livingstone to within three.
Davis & Elkins was solid from the charity stripe in the final minute, going 9-for-10, which kept the Senators in the lead. In the final 20 seconds, the Blue Bears got within one point twice, but couldn't complete the comeback.
In the first half the two teams battled back and forth. Davis & Elkins was solid from long range in the first half, connecting on 7-of-12 three-point attempts. With 8:11 remaining in the opening half, the Blue Bears led 26-23, but the Senators went on a 9-0 run to grab a 32-26 edge with just over five minutes left. Livingstone closed the first half on a positive note, scoring six of the final eight points to trail 38-34 at the break.
Livingstone stayed right on the heels of the Senators to open the second half and with 15:22 left, Greg Henry brought the Blue Bears to within three. Davis & Elkins then went on an 11-0 run to open up a 14-point edge. The senators stretched the lead to as much as 16 before the Blue Bears comeback.
Henry, who was limited to only 20 minutes due to foul trouble, led the Blue Bears with 15 points along with Nasir Austin. Austin also led the team on the boards with eight rebounds. Tyler Johnson also added 14 points while Omar Ford-Bey and Mark Thomas each added 13 points.
Both teams had a solid shooting night as the Blue Bears hit 55.9 percent of their shots from the field compared to 56.3 percent for the Senators. Livingstone struggled from the free-throw line, converting only 14-of-22 attempts while Davis & Elkins hit 28 of its 34 attempts.
The Blue Bears, who were without head coach James Stinson for the second consecutive game, fell to 3-2 overall while the Senators improved to 3-4.
Livingstone will return to the court after the holiday break on Saturday, December 31 when they host the Pfeiffer University Falcons at 2 p.m.
