By David Shaw
dshaw@salisburypost.com
No one goes from hot to cold faster than the Livingstone men’s basketball team.
The Blue Bears opened a nine-point lead midway through the second half Saturday night at Trent Gym, only to flush it away in a 73-65 loss to visiting Shaw.
“It starts with execution,” coach James Stinson said after Livingstone (7-8, 2-7 CIAA) lost for the fourth time in its last five games. “We started to pull up for quick shots, started to become selfish, instead of working for the best shot. Every time we do that and don’t play together, we end up losing games like this.”
And this one ówith a chance to win its second straight conference game ó was particularly hard to swallow.
“It would have been a great win,” senior Tayloe Taylor explained after contributing 17 points, seven assists and six steals. “It would have put us right where we wanted to be. This game meant a lot.”
Shaw (7-11, 5-5) ó which pounded LC when the teams met Nov. 24 in Raleigh ó converted 18 of 19 free throws in the second half and gained its third league win of the week. The guests shot 45 percent from the field and placed four scorers in double figures.
“We’ve got our second semester guys in there now,” said SU coach Cleo Hill, Jr. “We didn’t have much depth in the first semester. That’s the biggest difference. We’re trying to play well at the right time.”
That time began after Livingstone’s Santonio Springs swiped an offensive rebound and hit a short bank shot, providing a 48-39 Blue Bear lead with 10:08 to play. Three minutes later Shaw’s Will Graham scored on a breakout layup to tie it 50-50. SU regained the lead on Travis Nelson’s 3-pointer from the right side with 6:26 remaining. A pair of free throws by Eddie Dawson capped a 16-2 run and put Shaw ahead 55-50 with less than six minutes to go.
“Some days we’re better and some days we’re not,” said Springs, who had 15 points and nine rebounds. “What happened today was we started missing layups, missing free throws and giving them second-chance shots.”
It was the energetic Springs, a 6-5 swingman from Charlotte, who provided Livingstone’s brightest moments. He sandwiched a couple of foul shots between two 3-pointers ó the first from the left corner and the second a fade-away from the right side ó during an 11-0 spree that gave the Blue Bears a 41-33 edge with 14:20 to go.
“I was in a good rhythm at the time,” he said after shooting just 5-for-14 from the floor. “But I lost it. We do have a lot of good, running shooters and we were trying to build a 20-point lead. But we got out of our game plan and stopped executing.”
Shaw’s 2-3 zone defense neutralized shooting guard Sean Booker, limiting LC’s leading scorer to 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting.
“We wanted to stay on No. 23 and we wanted to contain Taylor,” Hill said. “We made a point to stay out on the perimeter on them. We gave them the post, but we didn’t want their outside shooters to hurt us.”
Dawson’s three-point play with 2:41 left gave Shaw a 62-54 lead and sent the big crowd scurrying for the exits. SU led by as many as 11 points in the final 30 seconds.
“We were up and down the whole game,” Taylor concluded. “And toward the end we let them control the tempo. That’s not how you’re supposed to do it.”
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NOTES: Taylor was LC’s best weapon, shooting 8-for-15 from the field. … The start of the game was delayed more than an hour because Shaw’s bus blew a water hose en route from Raleigh. … The Blue Bears continue their four-game homestand with matchups against St. Paul’s (Tuesday), Virginia Union (Thursday) and J.C. Smith (Saturday) this week.
Shaw (73) ó Dawson 20, Graham 18, Nelson 14, Smith 12, Callwood 5, Bascom 4, Ford, Bell, Means, Devere, Sellers.livingstone (65) ó Taylor 17, Springs 15, Booker 10, Durant 6, Page 5, Gunning 5, Darden 5, Wilson 2, Toney, Henry, Bryant.
Shaw 31 42 ó 73
Livingstone 30 35 ó 65