LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – Senior
Tony Efese (Spring Valley, NY/St. Joseph Regional HS)'s three-pointer with five seconds left gave the Lions the lead after Lincoln trailed Chowan since the 16 minute mark of the second half in a 61-58 home win on Wednesday, February 18th in Manuel Rivero Hall.
The Lions bench carried the load for the offense in the first half outscoring the Hawks bench 14-5. Junior
Chaz Sharp (Baltimore, MD/Xavier University of Louisiana) had nine early points including 2-of-3 made shots from long range. Senior
Kyle Aiken (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) also made a pair of three-pointers finishing the half with eight points. Lincoln and Chowan shot the ball relatively close in the first half as the Hawks held a slight advantage shooting 38 percent to the Lions 38 percent. Both teams made four three-pointers and Chowan led 30-28 at the half.
The Hawks built a double digit lead and with four minutes left looked to close out the Lions at home. Senior
Alonzo Murphy (Pittsburgh, PA/California University (PA)) scored five straight points for LU cutting the deficit to six (54-48) with 2:35 left to play. Chowan made a free-throw to increase their lead to seven, but Lincoln followed with consecutive scores by
Kyle Aiken (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) and
Tony Efese (Spring Valley, NY/St. Joseph Regional HS) bringing the game within one possession, 55-52, with 1:22 on the clock. The game came down to free-throws for the Hawks as Chowan was successful on another pair from the charity stripe at the 1:02 mark in an attempt to pull away from the Lions. The game went back and forth in the final minute of action until the Lincoln defense forced three turnovers in the final ten seconds to get back in the game. Chowan's turnover with seven seconds left led to a steal by
Alonzo Murphy (Pittsburgh, PA/California University (PA)) and a huge shot from long range by
Tony Efese (Spring Valley, NY/St. Joseph Regional HS).
Efese hit a three-pointer with five seconds left over the Chowan defenders giving the Lions a 59-58 lead. Lincoln finally went ahead after trailing Chowan since the 16 minute mark of the second half. The Lions pressure forced a final Hawk turnover and a pair of free-throws by
Kyle Aiken (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) secured a Lincoln come from behind win against Chowan, 61-58.
Tony Efese (Spring Valley, NY/St. Joseph Regional HS) scored eight of his 13 points in the second half and finished with a team-high seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocked shots.
Kyle Aiken (Randolph, NJ/Randolph HS) scored a game-high 18 points with four assists while
Chaz Sharp (Baltimore, MD/Xavier University of Louisiana) led the bench with nine points.
Alonzo Murphy (Pittsburgh, PA/California University (PA)) had seven points, six rebounds, and three key steals in the Lions comeback.
Lincoln improves to 16-9 overall record with a 10-5 CIAA record while Chowan falls to 13-12 overall and 7-8 in CIAA play. The Hawks had two score in double figures led by Kyree Bethel's 16 points and Josh Mellette's 11 points.
The Lions will honor seven seniors on Senior Day in their final home game of the season on Saturday, February 21
st at 5 p.m. against Virginia State University.
