The Lincoln University men's basketball team placed four players in double figures as the pulled away late in the game to defeat Cheyney University 67-53 in the annual "Battle of the First" game at Cheyney University Monday night.
 
The Lions improve to 7-14 with the win while Cheyney drops to 2-18.
 
Carlton Allen (Trenton, N.J./Manhattan College) and Sean James (Newark, Del./Iona College) led the Lions with 16 points apiece.  James shot 6-9 from the field and was 4-6 from beyond the arc.   Allen was 5-9 from the field and also grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and had three blocks.  Blair Davis (Baltimore Md./Baltimore City College HS) scored all of his 11 points in the second half while James Richardson (Jersey City, N.J./Raritan Valley Community College) chipped in 10 points (5-10 FG).
 
Basir Fulmore led Cheyney with 13 points while Mike Mohamed and Rafiq Marshall had 10 points apiece.
 
A final 16-6 flourish over the final five minutes by the Lions turned a what was a close game throughout much of the night into a double digit advantage and the 14 point win.  Davis had six of his 11 points during the run while James added two three-pointers, the last with just 50 seconds left, gave the Lions their largest lead of the night at 16 points.  Allen's four free throws accounted for the rest of the points.  Lincoln scored half of their points from the free throw line during their final pushing, making eight of ten shots. 

The Lions had led by as many as ten in the first half and saw their lead dwindle to one at the break and disappear as CU's Craig McGlond put the Wolves on top momentarily, 23-22.  Lincoln then took control with an 11-2 flourish, pushing their lead to eight at 33-25 at the 14:05 mark, but the Wolves continued to battle back countering with an 11-4 spurt to close the gap to one point at 37-36.  James then triggered a 7-0 spurt with a 3-ball that again pushed the Lions lead to eight, 44-36 with 9:04 left in the game.
 
Cheyney continued to hang tough, closing the gap to four on two occasions as the game wore on, the last at the 5:05 mark when the Lions began to pull away. 
 
The Lions shot 39.3% (22-56) fro the game while the Wolves connected on just 16 of 51 shots (31.4%).  Lincoln dominated the glass, outrebounding Cheyney, 44-32 which included a 13-8 advantage on the offensive glass, leading to 15 second chance points for the Lions, compared to just five for the Wolves.  Lincoln also outscored Cheyney in the paint 34-10.
 
The Lions return to action on Saturday, February 4, 2017 when they host Bowie State University at Manuel Rivero Hall.  Tipoff is at 4:00 p.m.