A tired Livingstone men’s basketball team had enough left to rally from 12 points down and win its third straight contest here Saturday night.

Coach Buck Joyner’s Blue Bears defeated North Carolina Central 64-61 in a CIAA game at Trent Gym.

Livingstone trailed the Eagles 54-42 with about 11 minutes to play and didn’t appear to be on its way to a third straight win.

“I thought we were a little leg weary with three games this week and with two of them on the road,” said Joyner, whose Bears won 66-56 at Virginia State on Tuesday, then triumphed 81-72 at Barber-Scotia on Thursday.

Joyner added that, when his tired team trailed by 12, “I think they sensed the state of urgency. I said, ‘Hey, men, this is the first time in I don’t know how many years that a Livingstone basketball team, men, has won three in a row. We have worked hard to try to get to this point and it’s best to come out and let some of that hard work pay off for us.’”

Livingstone had led by 10 at 26-16 in the first half, but Central fought back to tie the score at 32-all at halftime. then the eagles scored the first six points of the second half and eventually had what appeared to be a comfortable lead.

“We were just sluggish, leg weary. We didn’t run anything with a lot of rhythm and good crisp passing. We were very stagnant and lethargic,” said Joyner.

Rodney Gidney, who struggled in the first half, started the Bears on their way back by making four free throws. Later, he hit a jumper and drove the middle, pulling his team within six.

Then it was Sheldon Payne’s turn.He hit a 3-pointer and the 6:58 mark to pullLivingstone within 58-55, then another 3 at the 4:30 mark to tie it up. Both came with the Bears trying to beat the 35-second clock.

When Payne banked one it at the 2:14 mark, Livingstone had its first lead of the half at 62-61. Willie Rouse scored the Bears’ final basket after a Payne interception.

“They gutted it out. In the end, they wanted it,” said Joyner. “We made our free throws in the end. Sheldon Payne came out and hit two big buckets, two 3s for us, with time running down. Sheldon Payne did the job tonight.”

Payne, who scored a career-high 27 in a win over Barber-Scotia on Thursday, led the Bears’ scoring with 17 points. Gidney scored 12 and Peter Anders added 10.

“Gidney, who had played well in both of the wins on the road this week, was a little sluggish tonight,” said Joyner. “But he came on in the end with good rebounds and power moves to get us on the free throw line.”

Payne scored 12 of his points after halftime, and Gidney got all three of his field goals and 10 of his points in the second half. Anders was Livingstone’s rebounding leader with nine, helping the Bears win 38-33 on the boards.

Jimmy Boston paced the Eagles with 20 points, while Shawn Ray and ShannonMerritt added 13 and 12, respectively. Boston also had nine rebounds.

Livingstone is 6-15 overall, 4-8 in the CIAA and 3-4 in the Western Division. Central dropped to 5-16, 2-9 and 2-6.

“If we can win at least two to three more out of this (regular season), we can come up with third place, which is a very good standing for Livingstone,” said Joyner.

Johnson C. Smith (6-1), Winston-Salem State (5-3) and St. Augustine’s (4-3 before last night’s game with Fayetteville State) are ahead of the Bears in the standings.

N.C. CENTRAL (61) — Cobb 2, McNair, Ray 13, Boston 20, Ellis 9, Ransome 3, Merritt 12, Perry 2.

LIVINGSTONE (64) — Nash 5, Gidney 12, Anders 10, Payne 17, Rouse 5, Moses 3, Scarborough, Wright 4, Wiseman 6, Wells 2.

N.C. Central 32 29 — 61

Livingstone 32 32 — 64