Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls

Livingstone Nips JCSU Men, 68-67

1/21/2017 8:05:00 PM

JCSU Sports Information

Box Score JCSU Men's Basketball Nipped by Rival Livingstone, 68-67

Salisbury, N.C. -- (Jan. 21, 2017) – Livingstone College freshman Roger Ray converted a layup in traffic with three seconds remaining to lift the Blue Bears to a 68-67 CIAA Southern Division win over Johnson C. Smith University at Trent Gym on Saturday afternoon.

Ray's heroics capped a game-closing 7-1 over the final 1:27 after JCSU junior forward  Gabon Williams (Charlotte, N.C.) quieted the hostile crowd with a long three-pointer to give JCSU the 66-61 lead.

Ray would then slice the JCSU lead to 67-63 with a layup at the 1:11 mark.  Following a Blue Bear foul, JCSU's Aaron Adair (Winston-Salem, N.C.) converted a free throw to make it 67-63 with 1:01 to play.

After a Livingstone miss, junior Christian Kirchman (Roanoke, Va.) was fouled but was unable to convert on both free throw attempts, giving the Blue Bears another chance to further cut into the Golden Bull lead.

Ray then scored again to draw to within 67-65. His basket drew a foul and he knocked down the free throw to make it 67-66 with 24 seconds to play.

Following a JCSU turnover on the in-bounds play, the Blue Bears had two layup attempts rim out and JCSU's Adair secured the rebound and was fouled with 13 seconds left.

With a chance to extend the lead, Adair missed both free throws and a rebound by Livingstone's Jimmy Wilson began the sequence that led to Ray's last-second shot.

Junior Robert Davis (West Friendship, Md.) scored a game-high 20 points for the Golden Bulls while Gabon Williams finished with 12.

Livingstone's Ramel Belfield had 12 while teammates Cameron Burhannon and David Duncan had 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The loss drops JCSU to 7-9 overall, 3-5 in CIAA play and 1-2 in the Southern Division. Livingstone improves to 6-11, 2-4 in the league and 2-0 in divisional play.

The Golden Bulls will return to the court on short rest, as they entertain Elizabeth City State on Monday evening, Jan. 23. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m..