by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 5, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The odds were in favor of the Lipscomb men’s basketball team during Monday night’s ASUN quarterfinal matchup against Kennesaw State. Not only were the Owls without head coach Al Skinner, who recently resigned, but leading scorer Tyler Hooker (19 points per game) also missed the contest after taking an elbow to the face last week. Despite 25 points from Danny Lewis and 18 more from Bobby Parker, the No. 1 Bisons were able to fend off the pesky No. 8 Owls for an 86-71 victory at Allen Arena. The win propelled Lipscomb (24-6) to the ASUN semifinals, where it will host No. 5 NJIT on Thursday at 7 p.m. Lipscomb guard Kenny Cooper registered a rare triple-double by scoring 15 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 10 assists. It was just the second triple-double in the program’s NCAA Division I era — the first came when Josh Slater had 10 points, 12 assists and 10 steals on Feb. 17, 2011 against USC Upstate. “I’m really proud of Kenny,” Alexander said. “Our team’s a lot better when he’s aggressive and making plays. He had seven assists at halftime, which is the most impressive part of it to me. That shows that he’s engaged, pushing the tempo and making plays for himself and others.” ASUN Player of the Year and Lipscomb senior Garrison Mathews dropped 26 points and nailed five three-pointers. Fellow senior teammate Rob Marberry finished 8-of-9 from the field in a 16-point effort. “It’s tough to beat us when Rob plays great inside and goes 8-for-9,” Mathews said. “You can go down the list…Eli [Pepper], [Michael] Buckland, Ahsan...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 3, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Defeating a team three times in one season is no easy task, but that’s what the Lipscomb men’s basketball team must do if it wants to advance in the ASUN tournament. The No. 1 Bisons play No. 8 Kennesaw State on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Allen Arena. Lipscomb has home-court privileges for the entirety of the ASUN tournament after edging out Liberty (25-6, 14-2 ASUN) for the tiebreaker. “That’s what you work for,” coach Casey Alexander told LipscombSports.com. “I think the hardest thing to do in any sport, and at any level, is to be the best in your league. That’s a long-term measure of success, and our guys have been good for 16 games in the league.” Lipscomb (23-6, 14-2 ASUN) already owns two victories over Kennesaw State after beating them 86-57 on Jan. 21 in Nashville and 83-67 on Feb. 16 in Georgia. Ironically, the only time the two teams have met in the ASUN tourney was when Lipscomb was a No. 1 seed and Kennesaw State was a No. 8 seed in 2010. The Owls squeaked out a 72-69 upset. “It was a completely different time, but we know,” Alexander said. “Anything can happen in a 40-minute game, regardless of seed, and that’s the way we approach it.” BREAKING DOWN THE OWLS Kennesaw State has had a difficult year. The Owls finished the regular season 6-25 overall (3-13 ASUN), and coach Al Skinner recently announced his resignation, effective at the end of the season. But the Owls have the ASUN’s second-leading scorer in junior Tyler Hooker (19.0 PPG) – second only to Mathews (19.8...
by Russell Vannozzi | Mar 1, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
College athletic departments have dealt with declining attendance numbers in recent years, and Lipscomb is no exception. The Bisons saw a drop in men’s basketball attendance during both the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Busy schedules, distracted students and the availability of online broadcasts are among the factors to blame. “That’s a hard thing everywhere,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said of attendance. “It doesn’t matter what the sport is, and it doesn’t matter the success level of the teams. It’s harder to get people to come and watch the game in person when they have to give up the conveniences of watching it at home.” But this year has been different for the Lipscomb. Following its first-ever NCAA tournament berth in 2018, the Bisons have enjoyed a 37 percent increase in attendance. Lipscomb played its final home game of the regular season against NJIT in front of 1,908 fans Monday night. That brought the season’s total home gate to 28,645 over 14 contests – an average of 2,046 fans per game. That’s the program’s best average since the 2011-12 season, when it averaged 2,343 fans. Despite having an NCAA tournament squad last season, the Bisons drew just 1,495 per game. “The success of our team has really helped [attendance],” Lipscomb senior Matt Rose said. “Obviously, last year and the year before we were good, but we didn’t have the track record that we have now. This year everyone expects big things from us, and they want to come see us play.” Lipscomb’s marketing department has also increased its efforts this season. Free pizza and free t-shirts have been given to...
by Russell Vannozzi | Feb 26, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb basketball honored one of its best senior classes in program history Monday night. That’s no disrespect to Marcus Bodie, Darren Henrie, Phillip Hutcheson and Wade Tomlinson from 1990 or Mark Campbell, Andy McQueen and John Pierce from 1994 or Adnan Hodzic and Josh Slater from 2011. This year’s group stacks up against Lipscomb’s best, and it might be the best. “It’s a different era, for sure,” senior guard Garrison Mathews said. “I don’t know what it would have been like playing back then. We’ve been fortunate to come out and win some games.” Make that 77 wins over the last four seasons, to be exact. The Bisons are in the midst of their third straight 20-win season. “I think it’ll be one that people remember for a while,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said of the class. “The individual and collective accomplishments of [this group] are pretty impressive.” But this column isn’t meant to spark a debate – I’ll leave that for another day. The 2019 senior class put Lipscomb basketball back on the national map, and for that, they are worth appreciating and celebrating on their own, especially given the NAIA-NCAA discrepancy. The group of five seniors includes three 1,000-point scorers (Mathews, Rob Marberry, Nathan Moran) and two that came close (Eli Pepper and Matt Rose). More importantly, these five were instrumental in Lipscomb’s rise over the last three seasons, highlighted by an ASUN title and the team’s subsequent NCAA tournament debut against North Carolina in 2018. “If you really want to gauge what those guys have done, that’s where you have to look,” Alexander said of the...
by Russell Vannozzi | Feb 23, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb forward Matt Rose has a new job, and it doesn’t involve basketball. The redshirt junior recently accepted a spot in Merrill Lynch’s Financial Advisor Development Program, which he will begin this June in Nashville. He previously interned with Merrill Lynch in Knoxville last summer. “It was a really big learning process for me,” Rose said. “Being a basketball player my whole life, I’ve never been through the interview process like that. I did an internship with one of my dad’s friends and really liked [Merrill Lynch].” Rose decided before the school year that the 2018-19 season would be his last. The Samford transfer took a redshirt in 2016-17 to comply with NCAA transfer rules, and he’s now in his third season of eligibility but will graduate with a finance degree in May. “I’m glad he told us, but I was still surprised,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “Any time someone wants to give up a year of eligibility, it’s always a little bit of a surprise, even though he’s got good reasons for doing it.” In addition to his job at Merrill Lynch, Rose is getting married to former Liberty soccer player Caroline Boone, whom he met while attending Lexington Christian Academy in Kentucky. Their wedding is set for July 6. “I thought it was the best decision for me and my fiancé,” Rose said of skipping his final season. “We’re excited to move on together, but we’ll still be around all the time to support [the team].” Ironically, Liberty joined the ASUN just in time for Boone’s senior campaign last fall. Jerry’s Jokers, the Liberty student section,...
