LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – A late rally fell just short as the Lincoln University men's basketball team had its Senior Night spoiled at the hands of Washington Adventist, 79-74, on Thursday night in a non-conference game at Manuel Rivero Hall.
“It was kind of a hard game to play because it doesn't mean anything,” Lions head coach
John Hill said. “You are trying to win, but kind of torn between a rock and a hard place. You don't want to get nicked up too bad going into the tournament, but at the same time, you want to play guys because you don't want to lose rhythm.”
Kenny Sharpe (Chester, Pa./Elite Academy) scored 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to pace Lincoln (11-17).
Denzel Mooney (Baltimore, Md./Western School of Technology), an All-CIAA selection, and
George Jackson (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor HS) added 13 points. Mooney also finished with a team-high nine rebounds as the Lions shot 48 percent (32-of-67) from the floor.
The Lions started off slow and fell behind, 45-30, after a Daray Hill 3-pointer with 4:54 remaining in the opening half. However, Lincoln rallied and cut the deficit to 45-39 after a 9-0 run with 2:03 left.
The Shock (13-12) out-scored the Lions 6-0 during the final two minutes to take a 51-39 advantage into the break.
Lincoln fell behind by as many as 15 points (58-43) in the second half, but again rallied and cut the margin to 71-66 after a Sharpe fastbreak layup with 6:25 remaining. Washington Adventist proved to be too much as the Shock used 7-2 run, capped by a Jamie Netwon layup with 2:10 left to extend the advantage to 78-68.
The cut the deficit to 79-75 with 22 seconds left on a
Quinton Hector (Schertz, Texas/Samuel Clemens HS) 3-pointer, but that was as close as Lincoln would get.
Marcus Coleman led the Shock with 24 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Newton scored 18 points, while Brandon Washington and Hill each had 12 points as Washington Adventist was 24-of-51 from the floor for 47 percent.
At halftime, Lincoln honored seniors
Eric Johnson (Allentown, Pa./William Allen HS),
Terron Jones (Bronx. NY/Fiorello H. LaGuardia HS) and Mooney.
Lincoln returns to action in next week's CIAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed from the Northern Division. A time and opponent will be announced on Sunday. The CIAA Tournament takes place Feb. 27-March 3 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Tickets are still available and for more information, contact Elaine Basgil at 484.365.7319 or at
ebasgil@lincoln.edu
