CHARLOTTE, N.C.– Livingstone continued their CIAA championship defense with an 83-69 win over Lincoln.
Livingstone would build a 42-28 halftime lead and never look back.
Through the first 20 minutes, Livingstone dominated the points in paint, with a 26-10 advantage. The Blue Bears also dominated the bench points with a 23-8 advantage.
The Blue Bears pickup right up where they left off in the first half, and it look like a blowout in the making as Livingstone increased its lead to 19 points by the 14:24 mark, 54-35.
But the Lincoln would use an 11-2 run to cut into the lead, and by the 10:11 mark, had trimmed the lead to just 10, at 56-46 on a Quaman Burton layup.
The teams would trade baskets over the next three minutes, before the Lions would shrink the lead down to just eight points at the 6:51 mark, 65-57.
Livingstone would answer right back with a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 15 points, and although Lincoln tried to make it a free throw shooting contest coming down the stretch, the Blue Bears were primed for the task, as they would convert 9 of 11 free throws over the final 2:30 minutes to come awat with the 83-69 win.
The Blue Bears held a significant advantage at the free throw line, where they converted 28 of 43, to only 17 of 27 for the Lions. Livingstone also held a 48-38 rebounding edge.
Livingstone was led in scoring by Eric Dubose, who finished with a game high 20 points, and four assists. Eric Mayo added 14 points and a game high 16 rebounds and three blocked shots, while Ty Newman chipped in 12 points and nine rebounds.
Hakeem Jackson also scored 12 points while pulling down seven rebounds, and Daryl Trayham finished with 10 points.
For The Lincoln, Jordan Watson scored 14 points, while Quaman Burton chipped in 11 points, four assists, and two steals. Kyle Aiken also added 11 points, four assists and two steals and Joshua Davis finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and four steals.
theciaa.com
