CIAA Basketball: Livingstone 82, Lincoln 60

One knockout punch should have been enough for the Livingstone men’s basketball team Saturday night. But it a took a second haymaker — delivered late in the second half — to drop visiting Lincoln University to the canvas in an 82-60 CIAA victory.

“The first time we got the big lead we didn’t bury them like we should have,” LC forward Darius Cox said at Trent Gym, where the Blue Bears (5-3, 1-1) snapped a two-game losing streak. “We weren’t very good at using the clock and working for high-percentage shots. And on defense we didn’t make them work for their buckets.”

Winning coach James Stinson wasn’t exactly turning cartwheels after Livingstone earned its first conference win. He was upset that his team team allowed a 21-point second-half lead to shrink to 66-57 with 4:31 remaining.

WINSTON-SALEM STATE 77, VIRGINIA UNION 48

Tiffany Clarke scored 10 points, but VUU (0-8, 0-1 CIAA) fell to Winston-Salem (7-4, 3-0), which was led by Courtney Medley's 16 points.

SAINT AUGUSTINE'S 67, SAINT PAUL'S 43

Jasmine Stewart scored 10 points, but Saint Paul's (1-8, 0-3 CIAA) shot only 25 percent from the field and lost to Saint Augustine's (8-4, 2-0).

JOHNSON C. SMITH 60, ELIZABETH CITY STATE 52

Shavonda Price scored 18 for the Golden Bulls (9-0, 2-0 CIAA), who used a 14-4 second-half run to win at Elizabeth City State (8-4, 1-1).

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Lincoln coach has tall task ahead of him

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — When John Hill was hired as the new head men's basketball coach at Lincoln University on Sept. 20th, he was well aware of most of the immediate challenges, which are significant.

With the season opener less than eight weeks away, Hill had a mountain of work to do and very little time to get it all done. He also knew that the program is completing the transition from Division III to Division II, and is beginning its first season as a member of a conference in nearly a half century. And to complicate matters, Hill is at the epicenter of the fallout resulting from NCAA violations within the program that occurred under his predecessor, Garfield Yuille.

Lincoln Men: Challenges await untested group

In a perfect world, the Lincoln men's basketball program would head into its first season as an active NCAA Division II and CIAA member with great stability among its players and coaching staff.

Instead, the Lions plunge into a new, more competitive era with a new coach -- hired less than two months ago — and with just five holdovers from last year's 4-22 squad. Much of the instability is the direct result of NCAA violations committed under previous head coach Garfield Yuille.

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