Missed Shots Costly in FSU Broncos' 95-92 Loss to Livingstone

Tyrrel Tate

Tyrrel Tate Scores 28, But it's not Enough for Fayetteville State

FAYETTEVILLE, North Carolina  --  Tyrrel Tate scored 28 points, but 16 missed foul shots proved costly to Fayetteville State's men's basketball team in a 95-92 loss to Livingstone at Felton J. Capel Arena on Wednesday night.

Tate (Raleigh, NC) scored his points on 11-of-18 shooting, while Juwan Addison (Fairmont, NC) chipped in 12, Travis Marcus (Washington, DC) had 10 and Louis Craft (Fayetteville, NC) had 10. The loss drops FSU to 12-6 overall, 5-3 in CIAA play and 1-1 in Southern Division games.

"They're a good team," FSU coach Alphonza Kee said. "We just can't overcome bad free throw shooting, we just can't overcome that against a good basketball team. I thought our guys fought but it's just tough to miss 16 free throws against a high-caliber team."

For the game, FSU shot 15-of-31 from the foul line. Despite all this, the Broncos still had a chance to win it late. FSU mounted a furious rally after trailing 59-47 with 15:45 to play. A 23-11 run tied things up at 70 with 8:26 to go.  From there, Livingstone's Mark Thomas made a go-ahead 3-pointer before Craft countered with a dunk. After Thomas hit a pair of free throws, Tate made a layup. Anthony Shelton (Cary, NC) followed with a layup that gave FSU its first lead of the second half.

The Blue Bears jumped back out to an 8-point lead with 4:59 to play, but FSU scored 10 of the game's next 12 points on a 3-pointer, a layup and three free throws by Tate and a Craft dunk.  Tate hit a layup with 56 seconds left to put the Broncos on top, but Thomas got a 3-point play to give Livingstone what would be the game's last lead.

Down three with 13 seconds left, a pair of Tate 3-pointers missed their mark to end the game.

Both teams shot over 50 percent for the game. The Blue Bears were 32-of-64 (50 percent) from the field while FSU shot 52.2 percent (35-of-67). Livingstone outrebounded FSU 40-37, which led to a 25-14 advantage in second-chance points.  FSU had the advantage in points in the paint (50-41), bench points (33-32), points off turnovers (25-21), assists (17-7) and turnovers committed (just 13 compared to Livingstone's 17).  Showers led the Broncos with seven rebounds, while Dawson had a game-best six assists.  Livingstone had a 41-37 lead at halftime. In the first half alone, FSU outscored Livingstone 26-11 in the paint.  The game featured nine ties and 14 lead changes.

FSU is back in action at 7 pm Saturday against Winston-Salem State. The game will be played in Pikeville, NC, at Aycock High School.

Final Stats

COURTESY FAYETTEVILLE STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS