It took a little time, but the Lipscomb Bisons now have a Division 1 win in the W column.
The team (3-5) defeated the Tennessee State Tigers (2-7) 77-68 Saturday at Allen Arena in an afternoon tipoff.
Senior forward Malcolm Smith (22 points) led the Bisons’ attack inside the paint, where the team amassed 44 of its 77 points.
In the first half, the Bisons and Tigers looked evenly matched. Both teams struggled early to generate any sort of offensive pressure. But, Smith helped spark Lipscomb with five straight to give the home team a 9-4 lead with 12:20 to half.
The Tigers began to spark their own game from the perimeter soon after to get back in the game. After a quick lead switch-off in the low 20s, the Bisons took back momentum and led at half, 36-31.
To start the second, the Tigers came out hot on a 7-0 run to get the 37-36 lead at 18:01, but a 3 from freshman guard Aaron Korn settled the Bisons down. After TSU led by 8, the Bisons got back into the game and inched their way to a strong lead late in the game. Lipscomb never let TSU back in and picked up their third win of the season.
Smith led all scorers with 22 and all rebounders with 8, while TSU’s junior guard Marcus Roper was not too far behind in points with 21.
Freshman guard Nathan Moran put up 14 for Lipscomb, and sophomore guard Josh Williams had 13.
The Bisons will look to build on this one with a road trip to Austin Peay next Saturday, Dec. 13. Tipoff is at 4.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics