Jan. 9, 2014
Final Stats
ELIZABETH CITY, NC- In took and extra five minutes however Elizabeth City State University held off Livingstone College for a 94-90 overtime victory Thursday night at the RL Vaughan Center.
The Vikings seemingly had the game in hand after two free throws by Glenn Patterson gave ECSU a 73-64 lead with 55 seconds remaining. Mark Thomas scored a fast break layup before DeCarlos Anderson was fouled and made one of two free throws for a 74-66 lead with 48 seconds left.
LC's Anthony Welch drained a 3-pointer that was followed by a steal and layup Thomas and the Blue Bears trailed 74-71 with 35 ticks left in regulation.
After two Brachon Griffin put ECSU back up by five, 76-71, Thomas burned the Vikings on a layup, and one, which he converted to pull his team within a bucket of a tie with 30 seconds to go. ECSU turned the ball over on the in-bounds and the Jody Hill tied the game with 29 seconds left.
Neither team got a good look at the rim in the final seconds of regulation and the game went on to the extra session.
Hill gave the Blue Bears a temporary lead with the first buck in overtime at the 4:44 mark. The Vikings then tied the score on two free throws by Dominique Byrd and reclaimed the lead to 82-78 after back to back buckets by LaShawn Alexander. The most pivotal play in the extra session came when Anderson was fouled by Jody Hill on a desperation shot from beyond the 3-point line as the shot clock expired.
He sank all three shots to give ECSU an 85-78 lead with 1:30 left. The Blue Bears (10-3, CIAA 3-1) twice cut their deficit to three points in the final minute but the Vikings sealed the game with solid free throw shooting. ECSU was 14-17 from the charity stripe in the extra session.
In his first start of the season Miykael Faulcon led ECSU with a team high 23 points, including 5 made three pointers. Alexander chipped in with 20 points off the bench.
Mark Thomas topped all scorers with 30 points in the Blue Bears first CIAA setback of the season.
ECSU (7-7, CIAA 2-2) will return to action on Saturday at 4pm versus Johnson C. Smith University in a nationally televised game at the RL Vaughan Center. Follow on Twitter @ECSUVikings and visit www.ecsuvikings.com for more information.
