Staff report

FAYETTEVILLE — Michael Tyson scored 18 points and Joshua Dawson added 13 as Fayetteville State defeated Livingstone, 62-57, in men’s CIAA basketball action here Wednesday night.

The loss was Livingstone’s (8-15, 5-8 CIAA) third straight and dropped the Blue Bears into fifth place in the six-team Southern Division. They had been in a three-way tie for third place, going into last night’s games.

FSU now claims third place at 6-7, 10-12 overall. J.C. Smith, a 66-61 winner over St. Augustine’s, takes over fourth place at 6-7, 10-13.

Livingstone led by as much as six points in the first half, 23-17, at the 7:43-mark, when Darryl Bond dropped in two free throws.

The Broncos then began chipping away, tying the game and going ahead, 28-27, off free throws from Dawson, with 2:29 left. FSU led at halftime, 32-30.

In the second half, the Blue Bears led briefly, 34-32, on foul shots from Eric Dortch-Jones, but lost the lead for good a minute later. A layup from Tyson put FSU on top, 36-34, with 17:25 remaining.

The Broncos extended their lead to 11 points at 50-39, after an 18-5 run. They also had a 10-point lead as late as the 8:25-mark, at 52-42.

But Livingstone responded and behind David Duncan and Dortch-Jones, cut the margin to 52-49, with 6:24 left in the contest. However, the Blue Bears could not sustain the run, and fell back into an eight-point deficit at 59-51, with just 3:19 remaining.

Between Dawson and Tyson, FSU made enough free throws down the stretch to hold on to the victory.

Livingstone shot poorly for the game (39 percent) and committed 17 turnovers, compared to just 11 miscues for the Broncos. FSU scored 22 points off Livingstone’s turnovers.

Dortch-Jones was the only Livingstone player in double figures. He scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. Duncan followed with nine points and eight rebounds.

Following Tyson and Dawson for FSU, Josh Bryant scored nine points.

Livingstone returns to action on Saturday, with a 4 p.m. tip-off at J.C. Smith in Charlotte.

LIVINGSTONE (57) — Dortch-Jones 10, Duncan 9, Bond 7, Burhannon 2, McClendon 1, Belfield 8, Wilson 6, Bailey 6, Ray 5, Stanback 3, Lundy, Jones.

FAYETTEVILLE ST. (62) — Tyson 18, Dawson 13, Bryant 9, Tibbs 4, Vinson 3, Robinson 6, Gilmore 4, Raynor 3, McNeill 2, McCray, Lee.

Livingstone            31    26  —  57

Fayetteville St.      32    30 —  62