The Lincoln University men's basketball team produced another excellent team effort Saturday night as they won for the eighth straight time, defeating Shepherd University 80-59 at Manuel Rivero Hall.
 
The Lions placed five players in double figures and nearly had a sixth as they held off a second half rally by the Rams to extend their win streak.  Lincoln is now 11-4 overall on the season and has not lost a game since December 1, 2018.  Lincoln has now won eight straight and ten of their last 11 games, including  a big exhibition game victory at Division I Morgan State University this past Thursday. Shepherd falls to 7-5 overall.
 
Freshman Zahrion Blue (Princeton, N.J./Princeton) led all scorers with 17 points, including a 7-8 effort from the free throw line.  Deaquan Williams (Camden, N.J./Camden) notched his seventh double-double of the season with 11 points and ten rebounds.  Gevon Arrington (Petersburg, Va./Petersburg (Richard Bland)) and Josh Page (Washington, D.C./Rock Creek Christian Academy) came off the bench to score 14 and 12 points respectively. Arrington was 5-of-8 from the field and a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.  Page made four of five shots from the field (two three's) and added a pair of free throws.  Cameron Campbell (Fayetteville, N.C./Trinity Christian) rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points.   Maurice Waters (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution (Univ. District of Columbia)) added ten rebuonds and eight points while Tamir Green (Philadelphia, Pa./Constitution), Page and Williams had three assists apiece.
 
Campbell scored six of the Lions first nine points as they jumped out to a 9-2 lead and never looked back, extending the margin into double-digits by the 12-minute mark and leading by as many as 15 in the half before settling in for a 38-25 lead at halftime.
 
In the second half, SU's Thomas Lang opened the scoring with a three-ball to cut the lead to ten 38-28.  The Lions however maintained the double digit advantage with the lead oscillating between 10 and 14 points over the next eight minutes with the Rams cutting the lead to single digits 522-43 at the 10:59 mark.  A traditional three point play by Page pushed the lead back to 13, 58-45 when the rams made a run, outscoring the Lions 8-1 over the next three minutes to pull within six 59-53 with 6:51 left in the game. 
 
Arrington and Campbell broke the run with back-to-back baskets, pushing the lead up to ten 63-53.  The Rams added two free throws by Devin Smith to pull within eight 63-55  before the Lions exploded with 14 straight points to put the game out of reach and take a 77-55 lead with 1:38 left and Terrance Gibbons (Upper Marlboro, Md./Dr. H.A. Wise) finished the scoring with a three point bucket with 23 seconds left, giving the Lions the 21-point win.
 
The Lions shot 44.4% (28-63) from the field, 35% (7-20) from beyond the arc and 77.3% (17-22) from the free throw line.  Shepherd shot 30.2% (16-53) from the field, 19.4% (6-31) from three-point range and 67.7% (21-31) from the free throw line.  The Lions held a 47-36 rebounding advantage and committed one fewer turnover (11-12) than the Rams.
 
The Lions return to action when they begin a three-game southern swing with a CIAA contest at Fayetteville State University on January 10, 2019.   Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m.