by Eric Ansett | Feb 19, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
If the Lipscomb men’s basketball team wants to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance, it may need to figure out a way to stop Dallas Moore. UNF’s senior star scored a career-high 39 points on Thursday night in Allen Arena to sweep the season series and end Lipscomb’s six-game win streak. Moore is now responsible for the Bisons last two losses. The Atlantic Sun scoring leader (23.5 PPG) dropped 36 in the Osprey’s win over Lipscomb in January. The Bisons (17-12, 9-3), fell to second-place in the conference standings with the loss, one game behind FGCU, who narrowly defeated NJIT 80-73. With only two games left in the regular season, Lipscomb now needs a loss by FGCU to share the conference title and have a chance at earning home-court advantage throughout the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Coach Casey Alexander was disappointed in his team’s performance in such a crucial game, especially on the defensive end, where North Florida shot a blistering 64.1% from the field. “Our common theme all night was trying to find a spark, and I think we came ready to play, but we didn’t have anything extra when we needed to have it,” Alexander said. “I think our guys were hoping something good would come their way instead of making something happen. “We’ve had enough games that we’ve won this year where we didn’t play well on offense like tonight, and that’s where the biggest disappointment is. We didn’t do anything on defense to cause them any worries at all.” The Bisons struggled with North Florida’s extended 2-3 zone, shooting 44.3% from the field and just 8-for-33...
by Lindsey Nance | Feb 12, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons top tier offense continued to prevail as they landed their sixth straight win against Stetson on Saturday afternoon in Florida. Coming off of a win over No. 1 ranked FGCU, the new No. 1 seed Lipscomb (17-11, 9-2 ASUN) kept the momentum rolling as the team put together an offensive game to defeat the Hatters (10-18, 2-9 ASUN) 97-85 on their senior day celebration. “This was a great trip for us,” head coach Casey Alexander said. “We had to work really hard, especially in the second half when we settled down defensively. “I thought offensively we put maybe our best 40 minutes together. We really shared the ball well and shot the ball better than we’ve been shooting.” Stetson standout Luke Doyle stepped up for the Hatters nailing two pressured threes to put Stetson ahead early in the game. Alexander’s frustration was evident as he quickly pulled the starting five and replaced them with the remaining bench players. The substitution proved as an effective wake-up call for the starters as they went 7-for-8 from behind the three point line after subbing back into the game. Derick Newton added to the Hatters score with a few quick buckets for Stetson. Doyle continued to dominate for Stetson, notching in 11 points with 6:30 still remaining in the first half. The Bisons strong free-throw shooting came into play as Rob Marberry found his way to the line. The Hatters breached the gap in the score to tie the game and continued to hurt Lipscomb on the drive. After sinking ten 3-point shots, Lipscomb hit a drought and struggled to find the basket. The...
by Cole Gray | Feb 5, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
The struggling NJIT Highlanders (9-16, 1-8 ASUN) fell to the Lipscomb Bisons (15-11, 7-2 ASUN) 87-63 Saturday night in Allen Arena, as the Bisons earned their second win in seven days over the last-place team in the ASUN. Though the first half was a similar affair to last Saturday’s rock fight — Lipscomb’s lowest-scoring win of the year — Nathan Moran’s five second-half three pointers helped the Bisons open up a big lead in the last 20 minutes. The Bisons shot 10-of-16 from three in the second half, and 61.5% from the field, scoring 53 points in the half and stretching the lead to 26 late in the game. “Shots fell for us a little more readily,” coach Casey Alexander said on the difference between tonight’s contest and last week’s road win. “Nathan did a lot of that on his own, but really there wasn’t anything strategic. We were able to put a run together, and I think that that lifted the burden a little bit, and we were able to play with more confidence.” The Highlanders were without leading scorer Damon Lynn for the fourth straight game since he ended his season (and college career) by tearing his right Achilles against FGCU on Jan. 21. The senior guard was averaging 20.6 points per contest this season and is NJIT’s all-time leader in points scored. Without Lynn, NJIT struggled to find offense of any kind and resorted to force-feeding two-time ASUN Newcomer of the Week Abdul Lewis all over the floor. The sophomore forward, averaging 18 points and 14 rebounds in the previous five games, chipped in a game-high 21 points...
by Whitney Smith | Feb 5, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
After a promising first half, Lipscomb’s Lady Bisons (5-18, 2-6) lost 76-53 to the NJIT Highlanders (10-13, 3-5) in Allen Arena Saturday afternoon. Lady Bisons’ head coach Greg Brown reflected on the contest and the difficult season. “We let a little bit of frustration from our offense affect our defense,” Brown said. “I thought in the first half we did a good job of executing the game plan.” The Highlanders scored 24 points off of 17 Lipscomb turnovers while the Lady Bisons failed to capitalize on NJIT’s 13 giveaways, scoring only seven points on Highlander mistakes. Like the team looking to turn their turnovers into points, Brown noted the importance of also turning their trial into a testimony as the team moves into the home stretch of ASUN play. “I know its cliché, but we’re going to have to find a way to carry what we did well in this game over to our game against Upstate. I think our transition game has really gotten better over the last few weeks. So if we continue that, work on filling the gaps and improving our passing, that will help us continue to get better throughout the season.” Forward Riley Northway led Lipscomb with 16 points and also added three rebounds to the teams’ stats. “Riley continues to do a good job of finding gaps in the zone,” Brown said. “Those are things we can continue to build on.” Alana Dudley lead the Highlanders with 18 points and eight assists, and guard Kelly Guarino hit five three-pointers to finish with 15. Forward Leah Horton and guard Tatianna Torres also scored in the...
by Erin Franklin | Feb 4, 2017 | News Slider, Opinion, Sports
Ageless wonder Tom Brady, coming off one of his best seasons, faces likely-league MVP Matt Ryan in Super Bowl LI. The matchup between Ryan, who statistically performed better than any QB in the league, and the experienced Brady should be one of the better Super Bowl QB matchups in recent memory. The Falcons’ Super Bowl inexperience won’t permit an easy upset over the perennial-favorite Patriots. With both the Falcons’ and the Patriots’ high-scoring offenses and best quarterbacks in the league, the game will come down to strong defensive strategy and some offensive creativity. Brady, widely considered by many to be the best quarterback of all time, has taken the Pats to seven Super Bowls total, winning four. In the AFC Championship against the Steelers, head coach Bill Belichick won his 11th conference championship game, the most in NFL history. With Brady having a 384 yard day against the Steelers, the Patriots’ offense will continue to excel in the matchup against the Falcons. In the Patriots’ past five games, dating back to Week 15, they’ve won by an average of 21.8 points, and with Brady at the helm since Week 5, they have won 13 of their last 14 games. Expect Brady to do what he’s done all season — not make many mistakes. QB Ryan leads the Falcons, earlier picked by some experts to finish towards the bottom of their division this year, into the Super Bowl with a high-flying offense. With a plethora of weapons at his disposal, Ryan has thrown at least one touchdown pass to 13 different receivers, his favorite target being Julio Jones, who has...
by Erin Franklin | Feb 3, 2017 | News Slider, Sports
In a battle between the two teams tied for last in the ASUN conference, the Lipscomb Lady Bisons (4-17, 1-5) faced the USC Upstate Spartans (8-13, 1-5) Thursday night in Allen Arena, with the Bisons clinching the victory 84-77. Junior Riley Northway, senior Alex Banks and junior Meredith Lovelady led the team to a victory over the Spartans. Both athletes finished with double-digit points, with Northway scoring 21 total. Loren Cagle exceeded her average points scored of 8.2, scoring 9 total points. The junior nearly made history with a triple-double, which would have been the first in ASUN conference history, but in the end, fell one point short. “We worked hard in practice and knowing that we put that hard work in and played it out the way we wanted it to is good,” Cagle said. “I thought we played awesome. I thought we executed well; we had some rough moments, but we got the win, and that’s all that mattered. Getting those rebounds and stops really helped us out to get our offense going.” Cagle was named to the preseason watch list for the Nancy Lieberman Award, which is handed out each season to the best point guard in the nation. She was one of only 20 student-athletes to earn the recognition. The Lady Bisons established a good pace in the first quarter and got up early in the game, never falling behind and leading 13-10 at the end of the period. This was the 19th Division I match-up between the two schools, with Upstate holding a 15-3 series lead. In the second period, the Spartans moved quickly, taking...
