by Grant Ledgister | Apr 16, 2020 | COVID-19, News Slider, Sports
Telling Lipscomb athletes that sports for the semester had ended hurt Athletic Director Philip Hutcheson as much as it hurt the athletes. “It was totally heartbreaking knowing what that meant for all of our spring sport athletes,” Hutcheson said. “When I went and told the baseball team about it, I felt like I was talking to 35 guys who had all torn their ACLs at the same time and their careers were over.” From quarantines and stay-at-home orders to school closing and everything in between, the coronavirus (COVID-19) has changed daily life for people across the world. For collegiate athletes and administrators, the virus has flipped their seasons upside down. In an announcement made in early March, the NCAA canceled the seasons of all spring and winter sports. This included the popular March Madness national basketball tournament. “Obviously there are many worse things going on in the world right now than not being able to play a sport,” Hutcheson said. “But for all of these students it’s very important and something they’ve worked towards for a long time. They realize that it’s not just games they’re going to miss, it’s time with their teammates and coaches.” To make up for the inability to play, the NCAA made the decision to give athletes playing spring sports an extra year of eligibility. Some athletes, however, may not be able to take advantage of this. “We know already that about half of the seniors will not be coming back,” Hutcheson said. “The rest of them – some financial decisions have to be made. Most spring sport athletes, if not all of them,...
by Erika Plunkett | Mar 11, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb rebounded in their first mid-week matchup of this week, defeating Austin Peay 9-7 Tuesday afternoon. The Bisons trailed 7-4 in the seventh inning, but sophomore outfielder Ty Jones singled to bring home junior infielder Malik Williams before senior infielder Haddon Adams hammered a grand slam and gave the Bisons the win. Freshman pitcher Patrick Williams started the game. He was later relieved by sophomore right hander JT Caver, but junior transfer Wyatt Folsom was credited with the win after coming in during the seventh inning. Sophomore reliever Tyler Guilfoil got the save, his fifth of the season. The Bisons’ action continues Wednesday afternoon as they travel to Cookeville to take on the Tennessee Tech Eagles before returning home for a weekend series with...
by Mckenzi Harris | Mar 6, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons’ hopes for an ASUN title and return to post-season glory faded Sunday afternoon when they fell to the Liberty University Flames, 73-57, at the Vines Center in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Liberty Flames (30-4) will go on to the NCAA tournament. The Bisons finish with a 16-16 record after a strong comeback in the second half of the season. Thriller carried Bisons to the championship game: With 3.1 seconds left on the clock Thursday night in Jacksonville, the Bisons earned a 73-71 win over North Florida courtesy of a floater from senior guard Andrew Fleming. Sophomore center Ahsan Asadullah, who had scored a career-high 40 points Tuesday night in the quarterfinal win over Florida Gulf Coast, led all players Thursday with 27 points and 19 rebounds. With eight seconds remaining and the score tied, senior guard Michael Buckland got the ball to Asadullah, who soon found himself triple-teamed. Asadullah fed the ball to Fleming in the lane, and Fleming tossed in a teardrop for the game-winner. “Ahsan flicked it to me,” said Fleming. “I actually didn’t know he was passing it to me. I’m just happy it went in ’cause that kid [6-7 forward Wajid Aminu) had been blocking my shot a ton, so I’m just happy it went in.” Fleming finished with 26 points, a career-high. Lipscomb led by as many as 10 points, coming off of a strong first half, but the Ospreys saw the momentum swing in their favor to take the lead with five minutes left in the game. The Bisons were able to even the scoring and stop two North Florida shots with less...
by Kailey Schuyler | Mar 4, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s basketball team took down FGCU in an ASUN quarter-finals thriller. The third seed Bisons defeated the sixth seed Eagles 68-63. “It was a really important game. Obviously, it’s an eliminations game. We knew that we were going to have to play hard because they weren’t going to give up because it’s an elimination game for them as well,” said sophomore center Ahsan Asadullah. Both teams had sharpshooting in the first half, shooting 45 percent from the floor. The score was tied four times and saw five lead changes in the first half. However, and 8-3 run from the Eagles put them up 33-32 at the half. The second half was a back and forth game. Lipscomb came out on an 8-2 run with back-to-back baskets from Ahsan Asadullah. But FGCU responded with a 7-0 run of their own. “I’m real proud of our kids. A month ago we were 7-13 and 2-5 in the league, but we never quit we just kept coming and coming,” said Acuff. Asadullah, named first-team All ASUN earlier in the day, stepped up for his team with a career-high 40 points along with 14 rebounds. “I have been fortunate to have a lot of good players and some guys that have played at a high level, but that right there — to put the chips on the table put everything on the line. That’s as good as I’ve ever seen,” said Acuff. Greg Jones chipped in 11 points and 5 rebounds and Michael Buckland had 8 points with 5 rebounds. “Even though Ahsan obviously is the main story tonight and he deserves...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 3, 2020 | BREAKING NEWS, News Slider, Sports
When the Lipscomb men’s basketball team took the floor against Liberty on Saturday, the Bisons needed a tough win or some help from opponents to secure the fourth seed in the ASUN tournament. Not only did Lipscomb beat Liberty 77-71 (including a 29-6 lead to start the game), but Stetson also lost to Jacksonville, and Lipscomb got the tiebreaker over the Hatters and jumped a spot. This comes one season after graduating from a star-studded lineup of seniors that included Garrison Mathews and the transfer of starting point guard Kenny Cooper to Western Kentucky. Not to mention Casey Alexander’s departure to Belmont. “I was really proud of our guys for staying the course,” Lipscomb head coach Lennie Acuff said before practice on Monday. “I thought there [were] many times we could have punted. And obviously our roster’s been depleted, and we lost [Jake Wolfe and Alex Jones] for the year. But we just stayed the course, and we kept going.” That means the Bisons (14-15, 9-7 ASUN) have the No. 3 seed heading into Tuesday night’s matchup against No. 6 FGCU at 7 p.m. CT. Fans who can’t make the game can tune in on ESPN+ or listen for free on the Bison. “Florida Gulf Coast is very talented,” Acuff said. “We split with them. They beat us down there, we beat them here. They can really score the ball. We need to play well defensively.” Lipscomb went 5-8 in non-conference (3-8 against Division I opponents) and then started out the ASUN slate 2-5, including a four-game losing streak to cap it off. But the Bisons dealt North Florida...
by Grant Bricker | Mar 2, 2020 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb 6, Ohio State 11 Lipscomb lost the first game of the three-game series 11-6 to Ohio State after the Buckeyes’ bats got hot in the fourth inning. The Bisons started off very hot with a 3-0 lead after three innings thanks to RBIs from junior designated hitter Malik Williams, freshman infielder Knox Preston, and junior outfielder John Shields. Ohio State then put up 10 unanswered runs until Lipscomb finally scored again in the seventh inning. At that point, the game was already out of reach. Ohio State’s sophomore pitcher Garrett Burhenn got the win, and freshman pitcher Logan Van Treeck took the loss for Lipscomb. Lipscomb 5, Ohio State 4 The second game of the series was a lot closer with the Bisons winning on a walk-off single 5-4. This game was much more of a pitcher’s duel, which kept the bats in check. Lipscomb’s junior pitcher Max Habegger’s four strikeouts and Ohio State’s sophomore pitcher Seth Lonsway’s 13 strikeouts were to thank for the lack of scoring. It would be Ohio State who got on the board first with a sacrifice fly and an RBI double to give the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning. However, the lead didn’t last long as Lipscomb came back with three runs of its own in the bottom of the sixth. Senior outfielder Von Watson reached on an error bringing Shields in to score. This was followed by a sacrifice fly from senior infielder Haddon Adams that brought sophomore outfielder Ty Jones home. The last run of the inning was from a balk by Ohio State...
