The Lipscomb men’s basketball team lost to the Central Arkansas Bears 93-88 Sunday afternoon in Conway, Arkansas.
The rescheduled game that was originally planned to take place Saturday but was moved due to travel conditions marked Lipscomb’s highest points total in a loss this season and their 4th-highest total in any game.
Junior center Ahsan Asadullah scored 30 or more points for the second straight game, but despite his double-double with 32 points and 11 rebounds, Lipscomb came up short. Asadullah shot 15-20 from the floor and added five assists.
Sophomore guard K.J. Johnson added 13 points and four rebounds for Lipscomb. The Lewisburg native also led the Bisons with seven assists.
Asadullah, Johnson, freshman point guard Will Pruitt, graduate forward Parker Hazen, and junior wing Greg Jones all scored in double digits as five of only six players to score for the Bisons.
Eddy Kayouloud paced the Bears with 18 points, scoring all 18 in the first half. Darious Hall scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for UCA.
Lipscomb got out to a quick start, leading by seven points at multiple times in the first 10 minutes. They upped the lead to nine at 17-8 when Kayouloud first entered the game and scored 14 straight points for the Bears, cutting their deficit to 23-22.
The two sides traded the lead, but the home team went up by six with 4:15 to go in the half. Pruitt put together a four-point play on a made 3-pointer and a foul to cut the lead to 2, and Lipscomb would further cut the lead to 1 on a 3-pointer from Jones to beat the halftime buzzer. Jones’ deep-range strike made the score 46-45 in favor of the Bears going into the second period.
Asadullah took over in the second half, scoring 20 of his points and grabbing eight of his rebounds in the final frame. Asadullah, whose brother played for Georgia Tech and whose father played with Akron, scored eight points in the first five minutes of the 2nd half to help put the Bisons up 55-53.
Lipscomb then went on its best run of the game, scoring eight straight points to run out to a 65-55 lead, forcing a UCA timeout. They led 68-57 on a free throw from Johnson with 12:17 to play, but the Bears slowly chipped away at Lipscomb’s lead to set up a grandstand finish.
Both teams traded short runs down to the 6:32 mark, when Johnson scored again to put the Bisons ahead 82-74. From there, the home team went on a 7-2 run to put the score at 84-81 at the last media timeout.
The game stayed within a possession down the stretch, and everything was still to play for with under a minute to go when Asadullah tied the game up at 88 with a layup.
Ibbe Klintman knocked down a three-pointer at the other end for UCA, and the Bisons couldn’t respond. Jones missed a three-point attempt at the top of the key, and KJ Johnson missed another chance to tie the game after an offensive rebound from Asadullah.
A dunk from Jared Chatham sealed the win for Central Arkansas on their home court, improving them to 2-0 in the ASUN despite a 5-10 overall record and a 12th-place prediction by the ASUN media poll.
Lipscomb falls to 8-9 with a 1-1 ASUN record after the loss and will travel to Alabama Tuesday to face Jacksonville State in a matchup of potential ASUN title contenders.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics