Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team had to battle for a full 40 minutes Monday and in the end Greg Henry came up with a big block at the buzzer to preserve a 58-56 victory for the Blue Bears over the Fayetteville State University Broncos.
The victory snapped a six-game losing skid for the Blue Bears and improved their record to 13-11 overall, 8-8 in the CIAA and 4-5 in the division. Fayetteville State fell to 13-12 overall, 8-8 in the conference and 4-5 in the Southern Division.
Through the first seven minutes of the opening half Monday, neither team was able to grab control of the contest. Livingstone led by as much as three, but no lead was safe. Fayetteville State held a slim one-point edge with 13:01 to play, but the Blue Bears rattled off a 9-0 run to go up 17-9 with 10:06 left in the first half.
After a brief run by Fayetteville State got the Broncos to within six, the Blue Bears quickly ramped their lead back up to 13 points with 5:29 left, but the final five minutes of the half belonged to the Broncos. Fayetteville State outscored Livingstone 10-0 over the final 4:13 of the first half, capped off by a three-pointer at the buzzer to get within two at the break.
Livingstone was able to come out to start the second half and increase their lead ever so slightly. With 15:12 left in the game the Blue Bears led by seven, but a 7-0 run by the Broncos tied the game at 37-37 with 11:57 remaining. After coming back to tie the game, Fayetteville continued to pressure and grabbed a five-point edge with exactly 10 minutes left in the game.
The Blue Bears weren't rattled by the Bronco pressure and worked to regain a four-point lead with 7:10 on the clock. Livingstone weathered each attack that Fayetteville threw at them and each time the Broncos tied the score, the Blue Bears regained their advantage.
With 2:15 remaining, two free throws by Quintin Redfern gave the Blue Bears a three-point lead. Fayetteville took the next four points to take a one-point edge with 1:24 remaining. Livingstone took a timeout with 51 seconds left to draw up a play. The ball went into the hands of Trone Jackson and he put home a layup with 35 seconds left to give Livingstone a 57-56 lead.
Fayetteville State was then content to go for one shot. With 12 seconds to play, Jackson came up with a huge defensive play, stealing the ball. It was fed up to Darius Cox who was fouled as he tried to dunk the ball home. Cox missed both free throws but came up with a huge offensive rebound and was again fouled. Cox converted the second of two free throws to put Livingstone up by two with six seconds left. Fayetteville brought the ball up and found Travis Marcus in the corner. Greg Henry closed in on Marcus and as the three-pointer to win the game went up, Henry got a hand on it, forcing the shot to fall short and securing the victory for the Blue Bears.
Quintin Redfern was the only Blue Bear to score in double figures Monday as he recorded 13 points. Cox added nine points and also led the team in rebounds with six. Joey Taylor had productive evening, scoring six points and also grabbing six boards.
Livingstone shot 45.5 percent from the field for the game including 50 percent from beyond the three-point arc. At the free-throw line, the Blue Bears converted 14-of-22 attempts. Turnovers almost cost Livingstone as the Blue Bears turned the ball over 22 times which led to 26 points by the Broncos.
The Blue Bears will close out the regular season on Saturday when they host the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls at 7:30 p.m. Livingstone is currently in a three-way tie for third place in the CIAA Southern Division. All three Southern Division contests on Saturday will have tournament seeding implications.
