Final Stats

SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team dropped its divisional opener Saturday, falling 74-69 at home to the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls.

Coming off its first win in eight games, the Blue Bears had a very strong first half against the Golden Bulls.  The first 10 minutes were a back-and-forth battle with the lead changing hands nine times in that span.  At the 10-minute mark, the Blue Bears trailed by one, but a 5-0 run by Livingstone gave it a 27-23 edge with 8:07 left on the clock.

Johnson C. Smith was able to cut slightly into the Blue Bear lead, but Livingstone held strong and pushed its lead to as much as seven with 1:42 left in the first half.  The Golden Bulls cut the lead to five and the Blue Bears had a chance to add to the lead late, but two three pointers by Mark Thomas fell short in the final minute and Livingstone took a 39-34 lead into the break.

In the first minute of the second half the Golden Bulls cut the Livingstone lead down to one, but the Blue Bears responded with a 7-0 run and grabbed a 46-38 lead with 16:39 left in the contest.  Over the next five minutes, however, Johnson C. Smith slowly cut the Livingstone lead and tied the game at 51-51 with 10:07 remaining.

Johnson C. Smith increased its lead to three points, but a bucket by Greg Henry with 7:32 remaining brought Livingstone within one.  Unfortunately for the Blue Bears, that was the last field goal they hit for more than seven minutes.  The Golden Bulls went back up by four with 4:46 left and then didn't hit another field goal, but Johnson C. Smith went 15-for-16 from the charity stripe in the final 3:05 to secure the victory.

Mark Thomas led the Blue Bears with 16 points as he connected on 3-for-6 from beyond the three-point line.  Greg Henry and Nasir Austin each added 14 points.  Tyler Johnson led all players, grabbing eight rebounds.

Livingstone hit 48.3 percent of its shots from the field in the first half, but struggled in the second half, hitting only eight baskets.  Johnson C. Smith hit 44.9 percent of its attempts from the field and went 26-for-28 from the free-throw line.

Livingstone will next head to Raleigh, NC on Thursday to take on the Shaw Bears at 7:30 p.m.