Defense and the long ball provided the spark that the Lincoln University men's basketball team needed in the second half as they rallied from an eight-point deficit to defeat Shaw University 86-76 Monday afternoon at Manuel Rivero Hall.
 
The Lions improve to 8-8 overall and 3-3 in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) games.  Shaw falls to 9-6overalland 3-2 in league play.
 
TreVaughn Wilkerson (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic (Hartford)) provided the long ball spark off the bench for the Lions scoring 12 of his 15 points in the second half and finishing the game shooting an efficient 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.  Gevon Arrington (Petersburg, Va./Petersburg (Richard Bland)) led Lincoln with 16 points and a game-high nine assists.  Arrington's nine assists are the most by a Lions player since Kyle Aiken dished out nine against Virginia Union on January 24, 2015.  Elijah Bush (Bay Shore, N.Y./Bay Shore (Essex County CC)) added 14 points and seven rebounds.  Deaquan Williams (Camden, N.J./Camden) led the team with eight boards.
 
DeAngelo Stephens-Bell led the Bears with 23 points while Savon Goodman and DaVaughn Kelsie added 17 apiece.
 
Down by ten early in the game and nine with about five minutes left in the first half, the Lions rallied to close the gap to one, executing a 9-1 flourish fueled by five points from Cameron Campbell (Fayetteville, N.C./Trinity Christian ), a dunk from Jordan Camper (Chester, Pa./Chester) and an Umar Saaba (Philadelphia, Pa./Boy's Latin) layup making the score 29-28.  Shaw however closed out the half on a 10-1 run to lead by ten at the break 40-30.

Lincoln came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, shooting at a torrid 58% rate, 26 percentage points better than their first half effort.  The Lions were also much more efficient from beyond the arc making eight of 15 in the period. 
 
It was the long ball, most notably from Wilkerson that got the Lions back in the game.  Trailing by nine at the 12:55 mark, three three-pointers from Wilkerson helped pull Lincoln back within one 55-54 with 9:19 left. Close to two minutes later, a Williams jumper gave the Lions a 58-57 lead, their first since 2-0 in the opening minute of play.
 
Three minutes later with the Lions still clinging to a one point lead the long ball came into play again with the Lions knocking down four as part of a 12-4 run to boost their lead to nine.  First, came a long baseline three from Sean James (Newark, Del./Christiana (Iona)), followed by Wilkerson's fifth three-ball of the game.  James added another three with 1:25 left and Joe Gouty closed out the run with his first trey at the 1:08 mark pushing the Lions lead to nine 76-67.
 
In the final minute Arrington was a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line and Myles Markland (Petersburg, Va./Matoaca (Richard Bland)) scored all four of his points as the Lions extended the lead to as many as 12 before a Stephens-Bell basket in the final seconds made the final margin a ten point difference.
 
The Lions begin divisional play on Saturday when they host Bowie State University.  Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m.