After Thursday night’s nail-biter against Kennesaw State, the men’s basketball team served up another to-the-buzzer contest, but this time, last-minute heroics couldn’t save the day.
The Bisons (now 8-12) put up quite a fight against Mercer, but unfortunately, the visiting Bears (13-9) claimed victory by game’s end.
After a quick start (Mercer opened with a three in the first 10 seconds), the Bisons gained an early lead on the Bears, but as time progressed, the game became an level playing field, with a three-pointer courtesy of senior Deonte Alexander sending both teams to a 23-23 ballgame at the half.
In the second, the Bears became the dominant team on the court, looking at a 61-46 lead over the Bisons with 7:27 remaining. Despite the looming margin, the Bisons weren’t about to let this one go. In the six-or-so minutes to follow, key Bison shots were made, key Bear shots were missed and Lipscomb rallied back to a 7-point margin with just about a minute left in play.
A crucial 4-point play by Alexander shrunk the Bear’s lead to three with 41 seconds left, but despite the Bisons’ strong showing in the game’s final minutes, Mercer escaped with the win.
Alexander had a strong night, leading the Bisons in scoring with 20. Junior Khion Sankey led the team in rebounding with 12, and sophomore Malcom Smith added in 16 points.
Alexander said that he’s always looking to the next play in a close game’s final minutes, also concentrating on his defensive role.
“I’m just trying my best to not let my man score,” Alexander said.
Alexander said he feels that good focus on the scouting reports will help the Bisons in the future.
“I think we need to go back to the drawing board and focus on the scout report. We had a bunch of the guys were hitting shots that the scout report said they were shooting,” Alexander said.
Alexander reiterated the importance of focusing on the scout report as the team looks to travel to USC Upstate on Thursday.