Box Score LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – The Lincoln University men's basketball team rallied from a nine-point second-half deficit to force overtime, but the Lions couldn't pull off the upset as No. 19 Bowie State survived with an 84-76 overtime victory on Saturday night at Manuel Rivero Hall in a CIAA Northern Division contest.
 
“I thought we gave our best effort,” Lincoln head coach John Hill said. “We played hard and stuck to the game plan. We should have won the game in regulation. We had the last shot and Derrick had a very good look, but it just didn't fall. We gave them an opportunity to extend the game.”
 
Denzel Mooney (Baltimore, Md./Western School of Technology) paced Lincoln with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including draining five 3-pointers. He also had eight rebounds and three assists. Kenny Sharpe (Chester, Pa./Elite Academy) added 19 points, eight boards, one steal and one assist as the Lions (8-12 overall, 3-6 CIAA, 1-2 Northern Division) shot 39 percent (27-of-70) from the floor.
 
Bowie State (15-3, 7-2, 3-0) raced out to a 20-16 advantage after a Travis Hyman dunk with 10:06 remaining, but Lincoln answered and took a 32-31 lead after a Teron Jones jumper with 47 left in the first half. The Bulldogs got a pair of free throws by Jay Gavin with 31 seconds remaining as Bowie State took a slim, 33-32, lead into the break.
 
In the second half, the Bulldogs built a nine-point lead with 17:48 remaining as Hyman scored on a putback to give Bowie State a 41-32 lead. However, Lincoln battled back and tied the game at 52 with 10:50 left when Mooney sank a 3-pointer.
 
The Lions took a 64-61 advantage after Sharpe drained a jumper with 4:37 remaining. The Bulldogs rallied and tied the game at 70 after a pair of free throws by Jay Gavin with 1:07 remaining.
 
Lincoln had a few chances to win the game in regulation as Derrick Washington (Washington, DC/Coolidge SHS)'s 3-pointer bounced off the front iron with 36 seconds left and his jumper with four seconds hit the back of the rim to end regulation tied at 70.
 
In overtime, Bowie State out-scored Lincoln, 14-6, to get the win.
 
Darren Clark finished with 22 points to lead the Bulldogs. Bryon Westmorland had 20 points and Hyman chipped in with a double-double, 14 points and 16 rebounds. Gavin scored 11 points as Bowie State shot 53 percent (27-of-51) from the floor.
 
The Lions return to action 7:30 p.m., Monday, Jan. 30 at Manuel Rivero Hall against Virginia Union University. Catch all the action through live stats at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/lincoln/mbball/index.htm.