LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – The Lipscomb men’s basketball team lost a 76-73 decision to the Bellarmine Knights Wednesday night at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.
After trailing by nine points at halftime, a missed three-pointer as time expired from junior Greg Jones kept Lipscomb from forcing overtime against the Knights.
“We didn’t quit,” Lipscomb head coach Lennie Acuff said. “I thought we showed a strong chin, you know: we got [the lead] down to two and just had four bad possessions at the end.”
Second-year freshman guard Will Pruitt led the Bisons with 18 points on 5-9 shooting from the floor. The Mt. Juliet, Tennessee-born point guard made three first-half three-pointers en route to a 3-5 mark from beyond the arc on the day.
“Will played really well,” Acuff said. “He’s had a great year. Tonight was just kind of indicative of the way he’s played all year; he’s a great player and a winning player.”
Junior center Ahsan Asadullah scored eight points, adding six rebounds and six assists to lead the Bisons in both categories.
After leaking points all over the floor to an effective Bellarmine offense, Lipscomb found its way defensively in the second half. The Bisons allowed 6-12 shooting from deep by the home team in the first half, but held Bellarmine to just 1-9 from three in the second half.
However, points in the paint were troublesome for Lipscomb throughout. The Knights knocked in 48 points in the paint across the game, doubling Lipscomb’s total of 24.
Leading the charge inside for the home side was Dylan Penn, who went 8-10 on field goals and scored all 16 of his points inside the paint.
Juston Betz added 16 more for Bellarmine, while CJ Fleming netted 20 points for his sixth consecutive 20-plus-point outing.
Bellarmine started the game with intensity and highly effective shooting, going up 15-7 with 13:58 left in the first half. Lipscomb battled back only to give up a 6-0 run that extended the Knights lead to 26-15 midway through the first frame.
“We got hit with a haymaker right out of the chute,” Acuff said. “[Bellarmine is] really, really, really good, and in the first 15 minutes, that’s about as good as anybody’s played against us all year.”
The home team would make the lead as large as 15 before Lipscomb began to chip away. A pair of free throws from Asadullah put the game within single digits at the break at 44-35.
The Bisons took 11 fewer shots than their opponents in the first half but went 50% from the floor and connected on 10-11 free throws before halftime, keeping them competitive going into the second period.
Lipscomb came out of the break with a new energy, with five quick points making the score 44-40.
From there, the two sides traded short runs. Bellarmine pushed the lead back to eight with 13:29 left, but that was the largest lead they could muster.
Lipscomb cut the lead to four points on seven different occasions and got the lead down to three twice. Their biggest push was capped by a pair of free throws from Jones, cutting the lead to 69-68 at the 2:54 mark.
Fleming knocked down a three on the other end for Bellarmine to extend the lead to four, and the Bisons turned the ball over on two straight possessions.
The Bisons got renewed life when Fleming went 1-2 at the line and Jones put in a three at the other end, cutting the lead to 73-71. The teams traded two points each to bring the score to 75-73 with 6.2 seconds on the clock.
Juston Betz made just one of two free throws for Bellarmine, giving Lipscomb one final chance to tie the game. Pruitt brought the ball up with three seconds to go, giving the ball to Jones. The Frisco, Texas-born sharpshooter launched a long three-pointer that hit the backboard but came up short.
With the loss, Lipscomb drops to 12-18 on the year with a 5-10 ASUN record. Bellarmine improves to 11-4 in the conference and 17-12 on the year with the win at home.
Lipscomb stays in fourth place in the West Division with an Eastern Kentucky loss Wednesday night. With one game remaining against Central Arkansas, the Bisons will clinch a first-round home game in the ASUN Tournament Tuesday with a win or an EKU loss to Bellarmine.
“For us, it’s all about next week, and we’ve got to keep working tomorrow and Friday,” Acuff said. “We need to make sure we get a home game, and go be ready to play on Tuesday.”
Lipscomb’s regular-season finale against UCA comes 1 p.m. Saturday at Allen Arena and will be broadcast live on The Bison, Lipscomb’s on-campus radio station.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics