Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — Having proven resilient, the Lincoln men's basketball team would take a victory it surely deserves.
The Lions crawled back from a double-digit deficit midway through the second half but fell to Cheyney, 76-74, Sunday at the Liacouras Center as part of the 19th Annual HBCU Classic.
Dante Blanton-Holcombe (Baltimore, MD/Dunbar) (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) nailed a three to get LU within one with three seconds left, but after another one-of-two Cheyney effort from the charity stripe with 3 seconds left, the Wolves intercepted the in-bounds pass to effectively ice the game.
Damian Hyman (Bronx, NY/Harry S. Truman) (Bronx, N.Y./Harry S. Truman) led the Lions with 23 points, 18 of which were in the first half. Darren Clark (Boston, MA/Largo) (Boston, Mass./Largo, Md.) had 19 points while Blanton-Holcombe finished with 12 as he nears 1,000 points for his career.
Kevin Presbury led Cheyney with 20 points for Cheyney while Tyrone Smith finished with 18. Presbury also had 10 rebounds.
Both teams were brilliant from the field in the first half. Cheyney shot 52 percent while Lincoln was 50 percent. Typical of the tightly-fought contests in this rivalry, neither team got out to more than a five-point advantage before the other answered immediately, and the game was tied on nine separate occasions. The Wolves led 41-38 at halftime.
An enthused Cheyney team scored the first eight points of the second half before Blanton-Holcombe hit a three. The lead swelled to 13 when James Inge hit one of two free throws for a 56-43 Cheyney lead with 13:12 left.
The Lions' Clark hit a three, and the surge was on. Clark brought it to within two with 2:32 to go following a free throw. Cheyney got the lead back up to five with 1:24 left on a Rob Towsend lay-up.
Darrell Mosley (Chester, PA/Chester ) (Chester, Pa./Chester) came up with a critical steal at the top of the key and weaved to the basket to get LU back within one possession.
With 20 seconds left and down, 74-71, LU needed a free throw miss from Presbury to keep it a one possession game. The Lions got it, but it was CU's James Sanders that came down with the offensive board. Forced to foul, Mosley put Presbury on the line once more, and he would make one of two.
The Lions fall to 2-17 and have off until Thursday before facing Virginia State at 7:30 p.m. The game airs live on BrandywineRadio.com.
— LU —
