ELIZABETH CITY, NC (November 19, 2007) – The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania men's basketball team almost pulled off a major upset. Unfortunately, the visiting Lions saw a late six-point advantage slip away in a heartbreaking, 79-77 defeat to Elizabeth City State University Monday night at the R.L. Vaughn Center. (BOXSCORE)
Junior Jermaine Russell (Bellport, NY/Bellport) and Dante Blanton (Baltimore, MD/Dunbar) combined to score 44 points as Lincoln (0-3 overall) showed tremendous character in rebounding from a 39-point defeat to Johnson C. Smith Saturday night. Russell, who shot 10-for-15 from the field, led the Lions with a career best 25 points. Russell also grabbed six rebounds and blocked four shots.
Blanton finished with 19 points and six rebounds and junior guard Ladaye Johnson (Wilmington, DE/Hodgson Vo-Tech) scored 10 points and ripped down a team-high nine rebounds.
Guard Micah Wilson (Lansdowne, PA/Penn Wood) had a strong outing by scoring a career best eight points. Guard Chris Henderson (Bowie, MD/Central) provided amajor spark off the bench by scoring seven points, handing out six assists and grabbing six rebounds.
Anthony Hilliard scored a game-high 26 points and Olajuwon Johnson added 22 points and 13 rebounds for the Vikings (1-0).
However, despite leading, 39-32, at halftime and 62-56 with eight minutes, 33 seconds remaining, the Lions could not hold off Elizabeth City State University, who participated in the 2007 NCAA Division II tournament. The exciting contest featured eight lead changes and seven ties.
In a see-saw contest, the Vikings took the lead for good, 77-75, on a pair of Hilliard foul shots with 57 seconds remaining. Those foul shots followed a game-tying 3-pointer from Blanton that knotted the score at, 75-75 with 1:13 remaining.
With Lincoln trailing, 78-75, Russell was poised to score a layup that would have pulled Lincoln to within one point, but his shot was blocked from behind with 45 seconds remaining. The Lions had another opportunity to get even, but they turned the ball over with three seconds remaining.
After falling behind, 18-11, Lincoln outscored ECSU, 28-14, to finish the first half. Blanton had 14 points at intermission for the Lions. Lincoln finished the game with its highest shooting percentage of the young season, 47.3 percent (26-for-55).
In an evenly played game, the difference was turnovers. Lincoln finished with 21 and Elizabeth City only turned the ball over nine times. The Vikings scored 32 points off of Lincoln turnovers.
Lincoln will host Elizabeth City State at Rivero Hall on Thursday January 17 at 7:00 p.m.
Lincoln returns to action next Tuesday evening when it visits Holy Family University for a 7:00 p.m. start. The game will be broadcast live on www.redzonemedia.com with Matt Martucci, the voice of the Lions, calling all of the action.
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