Men's Basketball 11/26/2016 6:46:00 PM Dennis Davidson - The Salisbury Post

Livingstone Tops Lander, 80-69

GREENWOOD, S.C. — Livingstone bounced back from a four-point loss on Friday at the Finis Horne Holiday Classic by beating the host, Lander, 80-69, on Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Bears, who fell to Armstrong State on Friday, 80-76, improves to 2-2 on the season. Lander falls to 2-3.

Jimmy Wilson paced Livingstone with 17 points, Eric Dortch-Jones scored 16, and David Duncan added a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Wilson added nine rebounds and five assists for the Blue Bears.

J.R. Washington scored a game-high 24 points for Lander. Washington fell just shy of a double-double, leading the Bearcats with nine rebounds. Rahu Purdie added 14 points and eight assists while Jarryd Coleman contributed 11 points.

Livingstone built a 15-3 lead over the first five-plus minutes of the game with Nicklas Jonasson's 3-pointer being Lander's only points.
The Bearcats didn't gain any ground the rest of the half and were down 42-24 at the break, as Livingstone (16-for-31, 51 percent) had a big shooting edge over Lander (7-for-23, 30 percent) in the first 20 minutes.

Lander used a 9-0 run over the first three minutes of the second half to pull within 42-33. Jonsson hit a 3-pointer, Tevin Gabriel scored in the paint, Jonsson made a short jumper,
and Purdie took a long pass from Jonsson for a layup.

Dortch-Jones dunked during a 6-0 run that gave the Blue Bears a 48-33 lead inside the 16-minute mark. But Washington hit a trey and converted a three-point play and Gabriel scored to cut Lander's deficit to 48-41, with 13 minutes left.

Dortch-Jones and Samuel McClendon hit 3s, helping extend Livingstone's advantage to 58-43 with 10-plus minutes to go.

Coleman's 3-point field goal pulled the Bearcats within 58-46 with 10:06 left. Another 3-pointer, this by Purdie, cut the deficit to 64-53 at the eight-minute mark.
Coleman's long 3-pointer made it 70-62 with 4:33 to go. But Lander missed two 3s and a tap-in on the next possession, keeping the deficit at eight.

Wilson hit a pair of free throws, increasing Livingstone's lead to 76-62 with 2:51 left.

Washington's 3-pointer from the top of the key pulled the Bearcats to within 78-67 with 1:59 to go. The Blue Bears were able to run almost a minute off the clock with the help of a pair of offensive rebounds, Lander failed to convert when it finally got the ball back, and the lead stayed at 11 as the clock wound under a minute.

For the game, Livingstone made 28 of 55 shots from the floor (51 percent), 16 of 18 free throws (89 percent) and eight of 17 from 3-point range (47 percent) while holding a big 40-26 edge on the boards.

The Bearcats made 24 of 58 shots (41 percent), nine of 14 free throws (64 percent) and 12 of 32 from behind the arc (38 percent) while dishing out 22 assists.

Livingstone is off now until a CIAA road trip next month. The Blue Bears go to Bowie State (Md.) on Dec. 11 and play at Lincoln (Pa.) on Dec. 13.

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Players Mentioned

#33 Jimmy Wilson: F; 6' 5"; Junior

#23 Eric Dortch-Jones: G; 6' 5"; Senior

#1 Sam McClendon: G; 6' 1"; Junior

#15 David Duncan: F; 6' 8"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#33 Jimmy Wilson
: 6' 5"; Junior
: F

#23 Eric Dortch-Jones
: 6' 5"; Senior
: G

#1 Sam McClendon
: 6' 1"; Junior
: G

#15 David Duncan
: 6' 8"; Senior
: F