Final Stats
ETTRICK, VA – The Livingstone men's basketball lost a nail-biter Thursday evening, falling 58-54 on the road to the Trojans of Virginia State University.
Both teams came out very hot from long range Thursday evening. For the Blue Bears, sophomore Josh Hodge nailed three straight three pointers to give Livingstone an 11-8 lead less than five minutes into the contest. Hodge hit his fourth three of the first half with 8:55 remaining to give Livingstone its largest lead of the first half 19-14.
After the 19-14 Blue Bear lead, the Trojans went on a 7-0 run to grab a 21-19 lead with 5:39 left in the half. The final five minutes of the first half proceeded with very little scoring as the Trojans were able to take a 25-23 lead into the break.
Livingstone never saw a lead in the second half and trailed for 19:40 of the period. The Blue Bears found themselves down five with 1:45 remaining in the contest and thanks to the strong defensive effort, Livingstone forced turnovers to get back in the game.
With 1:23 left, the Trojans were up 54-50, but a quick bucket by Livingstone got them within two with 1:14 left. After forcing consecutive turnovers, Tyler Johnson was fouled under the basket and hit two clutch free throws to tie the game. After a Virginia State timeout, the Trojans were fouled with 11 seconds left. They hit both attempts and Livingstone had a chance to tie or take a lead. Trone Jackson was unable to connect on a drive to the basket and the Trojans grabbed the board and were fouled. They hit two more free throws to take home the 58-54 victory.
Josh Hodge led the Blue Bears with 14 points and five rebounds while Nasir Austin added 11 points. The Blue Bears shot 37 percent from the field including 33.3 percent from three-point range. Struggles at the charity stripe continued to plague the Blue Bears as they converted only 10-of-19 attempts.
Livingstone will head to Richmond, VA next for a Saturday night contest against the Panthers of Virginia Union University. Game time Saturday is slated for 7:30 p.m.
