CHARLOTTE, NC—Justin Jackson (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor HS) knocked down a career-high 29 points, but it wasn't enough as the Lincoln mens basketball team fell 81-74 to Fayetteville State University in the quarterfinals of the CIAA conference tourney.

While Jackson and his brother George were both lighting up the scoreboard, it was a more balanced attack that propelled the Broncos, the third seed from the Southern Division, to the upset win over the Lions, the number two seed out of the north.

The Broncos put four players in double digits, and the FUS bench outscored Lincoln's reserves by a 41-19 margin.

"Lincoln is a worthy two seed, " said Broncos' coach Alphonso Key. "We played them earlier in the year and they got the best of us, so we knew this was going to be a good game. But we like to think that we have ten guys who can start, and I'll take our ten guys against anyone's five any time."

It's normally a good indicator to look at the turnover battle to see who probably came out on top. But that wasn't the case Thursday night, as the scrappy Lions defense racked up 11 steals and won the turnover battle 25-17.

"I thought we played well over all," said Lions' coach John Hill. "They played hard and stuck to the game plan. We may not have turned it over as much as they did, but it just seemed like we did so at the most costly times. It's always about runs, and it seemed like we were killing our own momentum with turnovers whenever we had a shot to make a run of our own."

Justin Jackson (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor HS) was on fire from beginning to end, hitting 10 of 19 from the field—including three from beyond the arc—and a pristine 6 for 6 showing from the free throw line. George Jackson (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor HS) picked it up in the second half, contributing all of his 16 points in the final twenty minutes.

"Lincoln has some outstanding guards," said Key. "But this was one of the best games we played all year. You don't coach stats, you coach execution, and we executed well tonight."

The Broncos were led by a pair of bench players in Juwan Addison and Anthony Shelton, who each notched 16 points for the winners. Shelton was especially big for Fayettevill, with four three-pointers down the stretch that kept the Lions at bay.

"My point guards did a great job of finding me, and once that first one dropped, I just kind of found my groove."

The loss shouldn't distract from what was a great season by Lincoln, who racked up 18 wins—the highest in Hill's four year tenure, and finished second in the Northern Division.

"We're making tremendous strides," said Hill. "When I took over this team was in dead last. We've made great strides in building this program."

The Jacksons, who both tranfered to Lincoln from Division I schools, have been a big part of that turnaround.

"We saw Lincoln as a chance where we could play together," said George Jackson (Baltimore, MD/Digital Harbor HS). "We wanted to see what we could do to help the program here."

This is the final year of the contract between the city of Charlotte and the CIAA tourney. Count Hill among those that wouldn't mind a change of venue.

"Charlotte is a great town," said Hill. This is a great venue, and there's a lot of great food and attractions within walking distance. But we can't seem to win a game here, so yeah, I wouldn't mind going somewhere new.