By Mike London

mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Fifteen minutes after it ended, Livingstone’s muscular senior forward Eric Mayo was still blinking tears out of his eyes, trying to explain how it happened.

Saturday’s CIAA game at over-flowing New Trent Gym made grown men cry. Down 19 points with eight minutes left on Senior Day, the Blue Bears stormed back to beat Winston-Salem State, 86-83. Over those last eight, deafening minutes, Livingstone (16-9, 10-6) outscored a strong opponent, 32-10, and tied for first place in the Southern Division.

“I went to Winston-Salem State first, but they didn’t want me, so I came here and Coach (James) Stinson stayed on me until I got my grades up,” Mayo said. “This game meant a great deal, and I dedicate it to my family and to my coaches. I told my teammates that we were not losing this one. I told them if they had to carry me off on a stretcher, we were not losing.”

Mayo shot 8-for-10, scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in his farewell outing at New Trent Gym. Hakeem Jackson hammered down four dunks and scored 21. Ty Newman slashed his way to 19 points.  Eric Dubose had 14.

While Mayo, Jackson and Dubose were All-CIAA picks, Newman wasn’t, even though he’s been incredibly hot in recent weeks.

“Newman accepted the role of being that guy off the bench for us and he’s just been huge in this team coming together,” Stinson said. “If he was disappointed he wasn’t  all-conference, he didn’t say it and didn’t show it.  He was just happy for his teammates who did make it. He went out there and didn’t try to do too much. He  just played his role like he always does.”

Donta Harper scored 22 for the Rams (16-9, 9-7) . Marquez Jones made six 3-pointers and scored 21. WyKevin Bazemore had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

It was an even game until Mayo headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 12:44 remaining. Then Winston-Salem State caught fire. In a scalding stretch, the visitors got a backwards dunk from C.J. Ford and four 3-pointers. Suddenly, the Rams had a 14-point lead.

The Rams’ run reached 19-0 after Jones swished another 3-pointer and Harper buried a jumper for a 73-54 lead with 8:04 left. The Blue Bears were staggered and stunned — but not knocked out.

“We stuck together,” Jackson said. “This is a team of tough guys — and tough coaches. They weren’t missing, but no one panicked.”

Even down 19, Stinson looked as calm as a guy seated in a church pew. Then he stood up and waved Mayo to the scorer’s table, and the tide turned. Mayo scored six straight. He screamed. Livingstone fans screamed back.

“There’s no 19-point play,” Stinson said. “We could only get one point back at a time, but we needed to get some of them in transition. (Crafty guard) Daryl Traynham created transition opportunities for us.”

Dubose drove for a three-point play. Then Dubose slipped the ball to Jackson on a pick-and-roll, and Jackson powered in another three-point play. Traynham scored off a steal. Then Traynham set up Jackson for a rim-bruising dunk, and the Rams’ lead was down to four with 3:52 remaining.

Newman’s acrobatic layup with 43 seconds left finally put Livingstone ahead 84-83.

Darresse Johnson rebounded a WSSU miss with 17 seconds left, was fouled and made one free throw to nudge the lead to 85-83.

Jackson’s defensive board and subsequent made free throw made it 86-83, with six seconds left.

The Rams had two clean 3-point looks in the final seconds, but both missed, and LC cheerleaders and fans rushed the floor. Overtime would have been challenging for the Blue Bears. Dubose and Mayo had fouled out.

“Their  outside shots seemed to always fall, but at the end, they didn’t,” said Stinson, breathing a sigh of relief. “We feel blessed to win and we thank the Salisbury community for their support. They came out in droves for us today.”

Note: The CIAA decided to use points differential as the tiebreaker between the Rams and Blue Bears to determine the Southern Division’s No. 1 seed, rather than conference record (where Livingstone had the edge). The Rams won 89-80 when the teams met in Winston-Salem, so the Rams will a No. 1 seed and the Blue Bears will be a No. 2.

 

Livingstone 86, Winston-Salem State 83

WINSTON-SALEM STATE (83)

Harper 22, Jones 21, Bazemore 16, Wells 10, Ford 6, Leach 6, Campbell 2, Davis, Caroway, Alton.

LIVINGSTONE (86)

Jackson 21, Newman 19, Mayo 19, Dubose 14, D. Johnson 5, Williams 4, Traynham 3, C. Johnson 1, M. Johnson, Cole, Henry, Harris, Flint.

Winston-Salem State  37   46 —  83

Livingstone                    36    50 — 86