Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
FINAL FOUR FEVER
Lincoln men’s basketball team advances to CIAA Final Four for the first time
For the second night in a row, a Lincoln University team sent a Virginia State team packing to reach the CIAA semifinals. And much like Wednesday night when the Lions women rode a monster fourth period to break open a tight game, the No. 6 Lincoln men kicked it up a notch in the fourth to topple the thirdseeded Trojans.
With the win, the Lions will make the first-ever CIAA Final Four appearance in program history. Lincoln will face No. Fayetteville State, with game time slated for 6 p.m.
“I don’t even know what to say but that this team is just incredible,” said Lincoln coach Jason Armstrong. “The effort they’ve given the past two days has been remarkable and they’ve shown that if they get punched, they punch right back, They will never, ever give up. We’ve got two more to go, and we’ll take them one at a time”
The Lions shot the ball well all night, landing three more buckets from the floor than the Trojans, despite taking nearly 20 fewer shots. Lincoln was especially good from beyond the arc, knocking down 9-of-12 from three-point range, a tidy 75-percent.
“Tonight we definitely knocked down shots, and we made our free throws,” said Armstrong. “We made some big shots when we needed them, especially the drive and kicks, and we were aggressive to the basket. When they were already in one and ones with 12 minutes to play, I told them to just keep attacking the basket and forcing those foul calls.”
Trailing 36-33 at the half, Lincoln didn’t re-take the lead until Bakir Cleveland hit both ends of a one and one to put the Lions up by two with just over 12 minutes to play. Over the next two minutes, the Lions completed an 11-0 run to go up by double digits with nine minutes to play.
“We were up by 10 late when we played them at their place,” said Armstrong. “And they came back on us. We knew what they can do if we don’t keep our focus and intensity. We definitely came in to