LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pennsylvania - The Salem men's basketball team headed up to the greater Philadelphia area this evening for a road battle with the Lincoln University Lions. A recurring theme for the Tigers this season has been tightly contested contests, and this contest fits that mold perfectly. Unfortunately, Salem was unable to contain the Lions in the second half, and fell by a score of 71-65. 

In the first half, Salem bolted out to an early lead with three point shots from Rodney Smith and Kapone Barley. The Tiger's lead grew to as much as 11 midway through the period, but the Lions were not about to go away that easily in their own gym. Lincoln battled back, but Salem maintained a 6 point lead going into the locker room with a Riley Heatherington three pointer just before the halftime whistle. 

In the second half, it briefly looked like the Tigers were going to bring the lead back up to double digits with some strong interior play from Justin Tene. However, the Lions answered right back, and the game remained close down the stretch. Both teams traded one point leads, but a Salem rally led by Fope Okuyiga's free throw shooting gave them a three point lead with 3 minutes to go on the game clock. However, this would be where the Salem scoring chances seemed to dry up, and the Lions took the lead back with about a minute to go. From there, Lincoln rode that slight advantage to the final whistle even though Salem did add one last desperation three pointer from Rodney Smith in the closing seconds. That final shot made the score 71-65 favoring the Lions. 

Despite yet another hard fought game for the Tigers, there were still some strong points for Salem on the scorecard. For example, 3 Tigers finished the game in double figures with two of those three nearly finishing with double doubles. Stan Smith led the way with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Fope Okuyiga added 14 points and 9 rebounds off the bench, and Rodney Smith finished with 13 points. 

Salem will be looking forward to getting to play a little closer to home in their next contest as they are set to take on local rival West Virginia Wesleyan just up the road in Buckhannon on Monday, February 6th at 6 PM.