Final Stats
RALEIGH, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team forced overtime against the nationally-ranked Shaw University Bears Thursday, but the Blue Bears fell just short of the upset bid, falling 80-77.
Livingstone trailed 30-33 at the half and in just over five minutes to start the second half, Shaw had ramped up its intensity and jumped to a 44-34 lead with 14:43 left to play. The Blue Bears didn't stay down long as Livingstone went on a 14-3 run capped off by a Mark Thomas three-pointer to grab a 48-47 lead with 9:20 remaining.
Over the next four minutes the two teams traded baskets up and down the floor with the lead changing hands five times and Shaw was able to hold a 58-57 edge with 5:27 left. Livingstone responded with a 6-0 run and took a 63-58 lead with 4:40 remaining. After a quick 7-0 run by Shaw, the Bears took a 65-63 lead with 3:02 remaining.
The teams again traded the lead twice and the game was tied after a Shaw bucket at 67-67 with 1:47 on the clock. After more than 90 seconds with neither team scoring, Shaw went up 69-67 with 10.3 seconds left. Livingstone brought the ball up the court and called a timeout. Out of the break, Mark Thomas put up a jumper just inside the three-point line that missed, but Ethan Anderson was there to clean up the glass and hit a layup with 0.6 seconds on the clock to tie the game at 69-69. Shaw couldn't get a shot off and the game headed to overtime.
In the overtime session, Shaw grabbed the first six points of the period to go up 75-69 with 2:38 left to play. Tyler Johnson got the Blue Bears on the scoreboard with a two free throws with 2:14 left, but Shaw went back up 77-71 with 1:25 on the clock. Greg Henry connected on a three-pointer with one minute to play, but Shaw responded again, going back up 79-74.
Despite the five-point lead, the game was far from over. Mark Thomas came down and hit another three-pointer with 9.6 seconds left to get Livingstone within 79-77. After a timeout by the Blue Bears, Livingstone fouled Shaw and the Bears went to the line shooting two. Shaw's Malik Alvin hit his first and missed the second and Mark Thomas rebounded. As he brought the ball across midcourt he was trapped and turned the ball over, ending the Blue Bears stellar run.
Livingstone got off to a strong start against the nationally-ranked Bears, grabbing an early 8-2 lead fueled by three-pointers from Josh Hodge and Trone Jackson. After Shaw got back within 8-6, the Blue Bears were able to extend their lead to as much as six at 19-13 with 10:34 remaining in the first half.
Over the next five minutes the Bears went on the offensive, going on a 15-2 run to take its first lead of the game at 23-21 and extend the advantage to 28-21 with 5:02 left on the clock. Livingstone responded with a mini 5-0 run to get within 28-26, but Shaw as able to take a 33-30 lead into halftime.
Greg Henry led the Blue Bears with 19 points and six rebounds. Also in double-figure scoring was Mark Thomas with 12 points, Ethan Anderson with 11 points and Omar Ford-Bey with 10 points.
The Blue Bears shot 46.6 percent from the field for the game including a stellar 68.4 percent in the second half, but struggled in overtime, hitting only 2-of-10 attempts. Shaw shot 56.4 percent from the field and was perfect in the overtime, going 5-for-5 from the field.
The Blue Bears will step out of conference play on Saturday when they head to Sumter, SC to take on Morris College in a 4 p.m. contest.
