Staff report

RALEIGH — Livingstone withstood a late rally and held on for a big CIAA road win here Wednesday night, topping St. Augustine’s, 64-57.

The victory was the Blue Bears’ second straight, following last Saturday’s 80-79 win over J.C. Smith. Livingstone improves to 10-12 overall and 8-7 in the conference.

St. Aug’s fell to 12-14 and 9-6 in the CIAA.

Livingstone came out with hot-shooting against the Falcons last night, running off to a 15-point lead when Austin Walker nailed a 3-pointer to make it 24-9 with 6:30 left in the half.

St. Aug’s fought back some, but the Blue Bears led at the break, 29-17.

The lead reached 14 points (35-21) for Livingstone in the second half, but then the Falcons, playing on Senior Night, slowly chipped away at their deficit.

St. Aug’s almost fought all the way back. Kasey Bryant’s 3-pointer with two minutes left to play cut the Livingstone lead to 59-56.

But after both teams traded turnovers and missed shots, the Falcons were forced to start fouling. The strategy backfired as Livingstone guard Roger Ray sank 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to secure the win.

Ray led the Blue Bears with 18 points, including 8-of-10 at the foul line. Rashard Todd was the only other Livingstone player in double figures, with 11 points.

Quincy January and Bryant, playing their last home game, paced St. Aug’s with 13 points each. January also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Both teams struggled with shooting from the floor but Livingstone won the game at the charity stripe, making 15-of-17 free throws (88 percent). St. Aug’s made just 53 percent of its foul shots (10-of-19).

Livingstone took good care of the basketball as well, committing just nine turnovers in the game, compared to 16 for the Falcons.

Livingstone returns to action on Saturday for its final regular season game, a 4 p.m. tip-off at Winston-Salem State. The CIAA Tournament is next week in Charlotte.

LIVINGSTONE (64) — McClendon, Ray 18, N. Elmore 2, L. Elmore 4, Smith 4, Burhannon 6, Moore, Belfield 7, Todd 11, Lewis 6, Walker 3, Livingston, McNeill, Patterson, Flippin 3, Stallworth.

ST. AUGUSTINE’S (57) — January 13, Bryant 13, Collins 2, Gathwright 5, Baldwin 6, George 6, McDaniel 3, Harrison 7, Morrow 2.

Livingstone             29    35 — 64

St. Augustine’s       17     40 — 57