Final Stats

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Livingstone men's basketball team picked up a hard-fought victory Monday night, 74-65 over the Fayetteville State Broncos.

The victory, the third-straight CIAA victory for the Blue Bears, moved Livingstone into a three-way tie for second place in the CIAA Southern Division.  If the Blue Bears defeat Johnson C. Smith Saturday, they can finish no lower than third in the South.  If the Blue Bears win and Fayetteville can upset Winston-Salem State, the Blue Bears will be the second seed out of the Southern Division.

The Blue Bears got off to a very strong start, jumping out to an early 7-2 lead only three minutes into the contest.  After Fayetteville cut the lead to 7-5, Livingstone went on a 10-0 run to open a 17-5 lead with 13:24 left in the first half. 

Livingstone's first-half lead peaked at 15 points with 8:42 remaining and the Blue Bears were able to keep their lead around double digits for the remainder of the half.  Fayetteville State got as close as 35-28, but Livingstone was able to take a 41-31 lead into the break.

The Blue Bears pushed their lead back to 15 points at 49-34 just over three minutes into the second half, but Fayetteville was far from out of the game.  The Broncos fought back with a 10-2 run to cut the Blue Bears lead down to seven with 13:33 left in the contest.

The tense moments for the Blue Bears were lessened only briefly Livingstone pushed its lead back to 10 points with 8:38 left, but Fayetteville continued its fight and got within four with 4:16 left on the clock. 

Fayetteville capitalized on some missed free throws by the Blue Bears and came back within three at 66-63 with 1:33 left.  The Broncos were still down three with 35 seconds left, but Livingstone was able to convert four free throws and get two turnovers in the final 30 seconds to solidify the 74-65 victory.

Greg Henry led the Blue Bears with 19 points while Nasir Austin recorded his fourth double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds.  Omar Ford-Bey also added 13 points in the victory.

Livingstone shot 43.6 percent from the field for the game including a solid 41.7 percent from beyond the three-point line.  The Blue Bears also converted 75 percent of their free-throw attempts.

Livingstone will play its regular-season finale on Saturday in Charlotte, NC against the Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls at 7:30 p.m.