The Lipscomb mens basketball team recorded its fifth conference win over the Stetson Hatters with 87-85 on Thursday night in Allen Arena.
The slow starting game began as both teams struggled to establish any momentum. After the media timeout the Bisons began to find their feet and gained an assertive lead 43-27 just eight minutes later.
The Bisons were able to turn the tables from two weeks earlier, where they found themselves under the pump in the reverse fixture on Jan. 31.
The team entered intermission holding a substantial lead 51-37. Lipscomb was en route to a season-best with 51 points at halftime. That gave the Purple and Gold a 14-point cushion at the break, something the Bisons would need as the Hatters would outscore them 48-36 in the final 20 minutes of action.
“We need to limit our turnovers, and take better shots,” senior forward Malcolm Smith said. “We have been struggling on defense and I would say that’s something we need to work on going into the next few games.”
Smith led Lipscomb with 29 points. Sophomore guard Josh Williams followed just behind with 25 points.
“We’ll take the win, but we need to make improvements to make some noise in the conference tournament,” Malcolm said.
In previous games, the Bisons have had issues with their offense and defense, but the topic for this game was the team’s poor turnover against the Hatters.
“It was almost [a] carbon copy of that previous game, [but] this time it turned out differently,” head coach Casey Alexander said. “It was almost the same game which adds to the frustration.”
In this case a win under the belts of the Bisons can be looked upon positively to give them some confidence in anticipation for the upcoming conference tournament.
“I am pleased with the win,” Alexander said. “We did need a win in the worst ways, I’m happy about that. However, I don’t feel like on either end of the floor we were any better than we have been.”
With this win, the Bisons improve to 9-2 at Allen Arena this season.
The leading scorers, Smith and Williams have managed to carry the Bisons confidently throughout the season and hope to continue their double digits scoring patterns in the game on Saturday.
The Bisons will host A-Sun leader FGCU at 4 p.m. this Saturday in Allen Arena.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics