Box Score The Lincoln University men's basketball team was handed their first loss on their home court this season as Saint Augustine's University held off a late rally by the Lions to earn a 60-53 win at Manuel Rivero Hall on Saturday.
The loss drops the Lions overall record to 7-8 and their record in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) games to 2-3. Lincoln's home record now stands at 4-1. The Falcons improve to 7-9 overall and 4-1 in league games.
Elijah Bush (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore (Essex County CC)) led all scorers, dropping in 22 points on the night while also grabbing ten rebounds to record the double-double.
Gevon Arrington (Petersburg, Va./Petersburg (Richard Bland)) added 12 points while
Deaquan Williams (Camden, N.J./Camden) grabbed ten rebounds.
Kenneth Collins came off the bench to lead the Falcons with 16 points while Quincy January recorded a double-double with ten points and 14 rebounds.
Leading by eight at the half, the Falcons increased their lead to 15 with a 13-6 run to open the second half before the Lions closed the gap to seven. A three-pointer from Collins with 5:24 left pushed the SAU lead back to 12 55-43 and after a pair of Bush free throws, a single make from the charity stripe by January gave the Falcons a 56-45 lead with four minutes left to go in the game.
The Lions then feverishly started to close the gap as time was of the essence. LU scored seven straight points to bring the deficit down to four, 56-52 with just 17 seconds left. Arrington's layup started the run at the 2:53 mark but the Lions were unable to tack on another point until there was less than a minute to go when Williams' layup closed the gap to 56-49.
Umar Saaba (Philadelphia, Pa./Boy's Latin) hit a free throw with 33 seconds left and
Josh Page (Washington, D.C./Rock Creek Christian Academy) sank two more from the charity stripe with 17 seconds left. The Falcons then sealed the win with four free throws in the final 17 seconds (two from Kasey Bryant and two from Collins).
Saint Augustine's used a 51.7% shooting effort to jump out to an eight point lead in the first half. The Lions stayed closed for much of the half and held their only lead of the game at 13-12 when the Falcons countered with seven straight points to take a six point lead. Still the Lions fought hard and tied the game at 20-20 before the Falcons closed out the half with a 17-9 flourish.
Sainbt Augustine's shot 40.4% (23-57) from the field while Lincoln connected on just 33.3% (17-51) of their shots. The Lions held a big advantage on the free throw line outscoring the Falcons 16-6 but struggled with their efficiency, missing almost as many as they made (16-30). The Falcons also shot 40% from beyond the arc (8-20) while the Lions made just three of 12 attempts. Lincoln finished the game with a slight edge in rebounds 40-39.
The men's basketball team will return to action on Monday, January 8, 2018 when they host Shaw University in a CIAA crossover contest. Tipoff is at 4:00 p.m.
