Final Stats
CHARLOTTE, NC – After losing an 11-point lead in the final three minutes Wednesday, the Livingstone men's basketball won a thriller 60-58 over the Virginia State University Trojans to advance to the quarterfinals of the 2012 CIAA Basketball Tournament hosted at Time Warner Cable Arena.
With the victory, the Blue Bears will now face the Bowie State Bulldogs at 3 p.m. on Thursday. The Bulldogs are the top seed out of the Northern Division and are yet to play a game in the tournament.
The Blue Bears held a 55-44 lead with 3:15 to play after Trone Jackson converted two free throws. Virginia State started its comeback with an old-fashioned three-point play and Livingstone aided the Trojan run by converting only 2-of-6 free-throw attempts in the final two minutes.
Going into the final minute, the Blue Bears held a 57-53, but five-straight points by the Trojans gave them a 58-57 lead with 34 seconds left. After a Livingstone timeout, Mark “AJ” Thomas lost control of the ball and gave it back to Virginia State.
After another Livingstone timeout, the Trojans went to inbound the ball. This time, Thomas made up for his earlier mistake, sneaking around the Trojan forward, stealing the ball and laying it up for a good two points. He was fouled in the process and converted the free throw to give the Blue Bears a 60-58 lead. Virginia State, who was out of timeouts, went three-quarters of the court and had a decent look at a game-winner, but the shot was short and the Blue Bears survived.
Livingstone found itself in a fierce battle from the beginning. The Blue Bears were able to jump out to an early 6-2 lead, but the Trojans battled back with an 8-3 run to take a 10-9 edge with 12:23 left in the first half.
Livingstone went back up 15-12 only to have the Trojans take a 17-15 lead. The Blue Bears tied the game at 20-20- with 7:03 remaining, but Virginia State went on a 6-2 run over the final seven minutes to take a 26-22 lead into halftime.
The Blue Bears jumped out quickly to start the second half, grabbing the first four points to tie the game 26-26 just over three minutes in. The two teams then traded a few buckets and a three-pointer by Trone Jackson gave the Blue Bears a little breathing room, 35-31 with 13:18 left in the game.
Livingstone increased its lead to as much as 44-36 before Virginia State went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 44-44 with 6:24 remaining. Livingstone responded with an 11-0 run to go up 55-44 with 3:15 left before Virginia State made another comeback.
Junior Nasir Austin led the Blue Bears with 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Trone Jackson finished with 10 points and also had seven boards.
Livingstone shot 42.6 percent from the field including 40 percent from three-point range. Free throws were a struggle as the Blue Bears converted only 64 percent of their attempts.
