Jordan Watson (Philadelphia, Pa./Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) and Josh Davis combined for 23 points as the Lincoln University men's basketball team dropped their second straight game, losing to University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown 78-60 Saturday at the S & T Bank Atlantic Region Challenge in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
 
UPJ improves to 1-1 with the win while the Lions fall to 0-2.
 
Watson came off the bench to score 13 points (5-14 FG, 3-5 3FG) while Davis had 10 points (6-6 FT) and a team-high eight rebounds. Blair Davis (Baltimore Md./Baltimore City College HS) had three steals.
 
A.J. Leahey and Isaac Vescovi scored 26 and 20 points respectively to pace the Mountain Cats while Dale Clancy added 12.  Leahey added 12 rebounds to complete a double-double on the afternoon.
 
The Lions jumped out to an early three-point lead before the Mountain Cats caught fire and connected on 10 of their 19 first half 3-pointers to build a 17-point halftime advantage.
 
Five straight points from Clancy ignited a 19-2 Pitt-Johnstown run. Lincoln tried to get back in it and cut it to 25-18 on a pair of 3-pointers from Watson at the 9:20 mark, but the Mountain Cats responded with a 21-8 run to break it open.  Vescovi's lay-up with under a minute left gave the Mountain Cats a 46-29 lead at the break.  Leahey had 15 of his 26 points at the half.
 
In the second half, the Lions clawed back to trim the lead to ten on two occasions, using a 10-2 run to make the score 51-41 with 13:56 left.  Blair Davis (Baltimore Md./Baltimore City College HS) and Umar Saaba (Philadelphia, Pa./Boys Latin HS) had for points apiece over LU's 10-2 stretch.  The Mountain Cats then doubled down and used a 14-4 uprising to double their lead to 20, 68-48 with 7:17 left in the game.  A Watson triple with 4:14 left cut the deficit to 13 at 72-59 but that would be as close as the Lions would get down the stretch as UPJ would score six of the game's last seven points to finish with the 18-point win.
 
UPJ outshot the Lions 45.6% (26-57) to 40.4% (21-52) and shot 46.4% (13-28) from three point range.  The two teams were about even on the foul line with UPJ holding a 13-11 advantage in made free throws.  The Lions held a slight edge on the glass 33-31 while UPJ did a better job with the ball with a 20/12 assist/turner mark to LU's 6/19.
 
The Lions are back in action on Tuesday, November 15, 2016 when they travel north to face Bloomsburg University.  Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m.