Final Stats
SALISBURY, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team dropped a crucial divisional contest Saturday, 83-80 at home to the Fayetteville State Broncos.
The first half Saturday night turned into a three-point shooting contest as 14 of the 30 combined field goals made came from long distance. Josh Hodge was clutch for the Blue Bears in the first half as he connected on three three-pointers on his way to 22 first-half points.
With the three-point barrage, the first half was a back-and-forth battle. After Fayetteville took the early lead, Livingstone battled back and grabbed a six-point edge with 14:57 on the clock. The Broncos fought back and regained a slim one-point lead with just over 10 minutes left in the first half.
Two more times in the first half, the Blue Bears took a lead only to have the Broncos come back and tie the game. The two teams were tied 38-38 with 2:31 to play, before a 7-0 run by Livingstone gave the Blue Bears a 45-38 lead with just over a minute to play. After 58 seconds of no points on either end, Fayetteville connected on a three-pointer with four seconds left in the half to cut the Livingstone lead to 45-41 at the break.
The second half was more back-and-forth basketball with neither team really able to take control of the game. Fayetteville took its first lead of the second half with 17:24 to play only to see Livingstone come back to tie the game.
The Blue Bears led by as many as four points in the second half which came with 9:19 to play in the game. Fayetteville then went on a 16-4 run to take an 8-point lead with 5:17 left in the contest. The Blue Bears continued to trail by eight with 1:27 remaining, but were far from out of the game.
Josh Hodge was fouled on a three-point attempt with 1:15 remaining. Hodge converted all three free throws to cut the deficit to five. The Blue Bears came up with a steal on the ensuing inbounds play and Mark “AJ” Thomas was fouled and hit 1-of-2 free throws to cut the Bronco lead to four.
After Fayetteville hit 1-of-2 attempts from the charity stripe on the other end, Drew Thomas came down and hit a three-pointer for Livingstone with 54 seconds left, to get Livingstone within two. After a Livingstone timeout, Fayetteville again had trouble getting the ball up the court and the Blue Bears forced a turnover. Mark Thomas was fouled and hit two free throws to tie the game with 42 seconds left.
Fayetteville got the ball up court and took a timeout to set up its final play. The Broncos used most of the shot clock and hit a layup with 12 seconds left, getting fouled in the process. The free throw was good, putting Fayetteville up 83-80. Livingstone got the ball up court and set up a play for Hodge, but the shot was short. Omar Ford-Bey rebounded the ball, but his scramble to get beyond the three-point line was too long and the buzzer sounded.
Josh Hodge led the Blue Bears with a career-high 25 points including going 6-for-12 from three-point range. Hodge also led the Blue Bears with six rebounds. Mark “AJ” Thomas finished with 14 points while Nasir Austin added 10 points the losing effort.
The Blue Bears shot 51 percent from the floor including 50 percent from three-point range, but hit only two long-range shots in the second half after connecting on eight in the first 20 minutes. Livingstone struggled from the charity stripe, hitting only 66.7 percent of its free-throw attempts.
Livingstone will head out on the road Monday evening when the Blue Bears face the Rams of Winston-Salem State University at 7:30 p.m. at the C.E. Gaines Center in Winston-Salem, NC.
