The Force was strong with the Bisons in Saturday’s game against ETSU in Allen Arena, but not strong enough.
Lipscomb Athletics hosted the 6th annual Star Wars night during the Bisons’ game against Eastern Tennessee State University but the team fell 96-88 to the visiting Buccaneers.
While the children got pictures with their favorite bounty hunters, Jedi and even Darth Vader, Lipscomb stayed neck-and-neck with the Bucs until about the final three minutes.
From the tip-off, freshman guard Josh Williams scored the first three points of the game from the left of the basket. From there, neither team stopped shooting threes.
The Buccaneers attempted 15 shots from the arch in the game and made seven. Junior ETSU guard Jalen Riley scored 12 points behind the arc, while scoring 30 in total for the night.
The Bisons made 13 of their 34 three-point attempts, finishing with a 38 percent three-point shooting percentage.
It was a close game, as the scored had been tied 15 times, and there were 27 lead changes. The Bisons’ scoring slowed and nearly came to a halt in the final minutes as ETSU pulled away with free throws.
Head coach Casey Alexander said that although the team kept it close, the Bisons could not get in rhythm or be aggressive.
“We never got in a rhythm defensively. We could never get stops together; we could never stop their offensive momentum.
“We weren’t necessarily behind in points, but we were never the aggressor out in front out there.”
Lipscomb had two players cross the 20 points mark. Junior forward Malcolm Smith lead the team with 27 points. Redshirt freshman point guard J.C. Hampton scored 22.
Over the course of the game, the Buccaneers took advantage of the 41 free throw attempts they were awarded, sinking 35 of the attempts.
The loss came just two days after a late game victory against USC Upstate.
In that game, the Bisons extended their three game winning streak to four with a game-winning Josh Williams three-pointer. However, Alexander said he believes that Thursday’s and Saturday’s situations were different.
“That was Thursday, and this is Saturday, and we got two different teams, and we played with a lot of purpose on Thursday, and we didn’t tonight.”
The Bisons next play at Mercer on Feb. 13.
Game Notes: ETSU’s bench scored 45 points. Lipscomb’s scored 10. Lipscomb had five fewer turnovers with 10. Lipscomb scored 11 second-chance points; ETSU scored eight.
Photo credit: Erin Turner