A late run by Virginia State University put an end to a comeback attempt by the Lincoln University men's basketball team as the Lions dropped a 60-52 decision to the nationally ranked Trojans Saturday afternoon at Manuel Rivero Hall.
 
The Lions fall to 10-11 overall and 5-6 in Central intercollegiate Athletic Association(CIAA) games.  The Trojans, ranked 17^th in latest D2SIDA media poll, improve to 18-3 overall and 8-3 in league contests.
 
Deaquan Williams (Camden, N.J./Camden) led the Lions with 17 points and nine rebounds while Sean James (Newark, Del./Christiana (Iona)) added 12 points on four three-point field goals.  Gevon Arrington (Petersburg, Va./Petersburg (Richard Bland)) led the team with four assists.
 
Waymond Wright led three VSU players in double figures with 13 points.  Trey Brown added 12 points while Richard Granberry chipped in 11 while pulling down a team-high eight rebounds.
 
A back and forth first half which saw neither team lead by more than four points and saw three ties and six lead changes finished with the Trojans holding a slim 23-22 lead.  The Trojans extended the lead with a 8-3 min-run to open the second half before five straight points from Arrington cut the lead to a single point 31-30 at the 13:52 mark. After another small run by the Trojans, a pair of three pointers from James brought the Lions back within two, 38-36.
 
An 11-2 flourish by the Trojans gave the visitors their biggest lead of the game at 49-38 with 7:09 left before the Lions began another comeback.  James started a run of eight straight points with last of his three-point baskets at the 6:15 mark.  Cameron Campbell (Fayetteville, N.C./Trinity Christian ) followed with a layup and then a free throw on LU's next possession and Williams capped the run with a layup to make the scores 49-46 with 4:20 left.  The Trojans followed with a 10-4 run to put the game out of reach as the Lions offense went cold over the final four minutes, making just one field goal and two free throws over their next seven possessions before a Williams' dunk with 1.2 seconds left rounded out the scoring.
 
The Trojans used a 50% shooting effort in the second half (16-32) to pull away with the win while limiting the Lions to just 11 field goals (11-29, 37.9%) in the second half.  For the game, the Lions shot 35.8% (19-53) while the Trojans were slightly higher at 38.3% (23-60).  Lincoln struggled at the free throw line for the second time in the past three games, making just seven of 16 shots (43.8%) from the charity stripe.  VSU was 11-16 (68.8%) from the free throw line.  The Trojans dominated the boards, outrebounding the Lions 46-31.
 
Lincoln returns to action on Wednesday, February 7, 2018 when they travel to face Bowie State University in a CIAA North Division contest.  Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.