Kearse, who was named to the All-Big East Third Team in 1998 while at West Virginia, hit 10 3-pointers and backcourt-mate Kyle Myrick, who entered the game as the third-best scorer in NCAA Division III, contributed 26. The nation’s 10th-best scorer, Santo Provenzano, led Hood (11-11) with 27 points and he also recorded his 1,000th career point with 13:07 to go in the first half.
The Blazers, who lost just their second home game of the season (8-2), nailed a school-record 16 treys (in 42 attempts) led by David Wilson’s six 3s. He finished the night with 22 points and Darnell Edmonds dished out a game-high 10 assists to go along with four steals and six points.
Lincoln, which has now won seven straight to improve to 18-5, trailed 44-41 at the half, but Kearse scored 38 of his points in the second half and the Lions used a 10-0 run over a two-minute, 30-second span to turn a one point lead into a 62-51 advantage with 13:53 left.
Hood would only get as close as seven—70-63, after a Wilson 3-pointer with 7:14 to go—the rest of the way.
The Lions, an independent program like Hood, entered the night with the top record of all 23 independent programs in the country and look to be on their way to the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Their 18 wins sets a new regular season-best for the program.
This is the first time in history the Blazers have given up 100 points in a game and is their second loss of the season to Lincoln, falling 77-71 on Feb. 2. In that game, Kearse led all scorers with 35 points.
The Lions outrebounded Hood, 55-34, and had 28 offensive boards which led to 32 second chance points. The Blazers’ nine turnovers is a season-low.
Dennis Tressler chipped in with 13 points for Hood and Sean Robine hit four 3s on his way to 12 points.
The highly-charged game saw Hood get hit with three technical fouls.
Hood gets back in action Tuesday at Penn State-Altoona. Tip-off for its final road game of the season is set for 7 p.m.