by Russell Vannozzi | Feb 21, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Florida Gulf Coast men’s basketball team had bad memories from the last time Lipscomb visited Alico Arena, and the Eagles got their revenge Wednesday night. FGCU knocked off the Bisons with a stunning, 67-61 victory. It was Lipscomb’s first visit to Fort Myers since its 108-96 victory in last year’s ASUN title game. The Bisons (21-6, 12-2 ASUN) have now dropped two of their last three contests, but the latest loss is the most damaging to their postseason hopes. Previously, Lipscomb’s worst loss was to Belmont (NET: 58), but FGCU entered the night ranked much lower at No. 244. Poor shooting led to Lipscomb’s worst offensive night The Bisons shot just 29 percent (20-of-68) from the field in their worst offensive showing of the season. The dismal performance came exactly one week after the team shot 36 percent and scored just 66 points in a home loss to Liberty (23-5, 12-1 ASUN) on Feb. 13. Lipscomb never fully settled into its offense and missed numerous shots around the basket. Senior forward Rob Marberry was held to eight points – well under his season average of 14.9. Eagle defense was stifling Of course, the FGCU defense had something to do with Lipscomb’s poor performance. The Eagles took advantage of light officiating in the paint and finished with 10 blocks. FGCU forward Brian Thomas was responsible for six of those blocked shots. The 6-foot-9 big man also pulled down seven rebounds, while Zach Scott had eight boards. Lipscomb shot itself in the foot by committing 11 turnovers, which led to nine FGCU points. FGCU’s Mercurius came...
by Erika Plunkett | Feb 20, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
On Tuesday night, the Lipscomb women’s basketball team fell to high-flying Florida Gulf Coast University 80-46 in Nashville. The struggles for the Lady Bisons (3-23, 1-12 ASUN) began before either team took the court. Due to a severe power outage on Lipscomb’s campus, the game was moved from the Lady Bisons’ home court in Allen Arena to a couple miles up the road at Belmont’s Curb Event Center. The Lady Bisons opened the game on a 5-0 run and held the advantage for much of the first quarter. In the first seven minutes, Lipscomb saw six different players record points. When asked about this early momentum, Lipscomb coach Greg Brown said he was not surprised. “It’s how we anticipated coming in,” Brown said. “We had good movement. I thought we mixed up our defense and took them out of rhythm, and we both played pretty well those first four or five minutes. It’s the ability to sustain.” And he was right. Lipscomb was unable to sustain its tempo, and the lead was short-lived, as the Eagles (22-4, 13-0 ASUN) answered with a 27-point run spanning the first and second quarters. Lipscomb’s scoring drought lasted for over 11 minutes until junior guard Anna Hammaker finally found the basket with just under two minutes left before halftime. Much of the Eagles’ success came from outside the arc, as they finished the night with 49 attempts from three-point range, surpassing Lipscomb’s total field goal attempts. FGCU converted on 15 of these attempts, led by junior forward Nasrin Ulel’s five threes. “There’s nothing they do that’s tricky,” Brown said. “They just cut really hard....
by Tyler Harvey | Feb 20, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
No scoreboard, no music, and no P.A. system: that’s how the Lipscomb baseball team played its game against Western Kentucky thanks to the power being out on campus Tuesday. However, the atmosphere of the game didn’t stop Lipscomb freshman starting pitcher Tyler Guilfoil from tossing a scoreless outing in the first game of his career, putting the Bisons in position for a 3-1 win at Ken Dugan Field. Guilfoil limited the Hilltoppers to only one hit and one walk to go with nine strikeouts in five innings pitched. “For [his] first time out there, you can’t [ask for] any more than that,” Lipscomb coach Jeff Forehand said. The Atmosphere The atmosphere was reminiscent of a little league game or a game being played in the early days of baseball before electricity. The only sounds were the bats hitting the ball, the ball hitting the gloves and the cheers of the crowd. The only people who really knew the score the entire game were the players on the field and the people in the press box, since the scoreboard was among the things not working due to the power outage. “I think we get spoiled having the music and the scoreboard and all the amenities going on sometimes,” Coach Forehand said. “It affected the game, but not enough to where we couldn’t play the game.” The game was also cold, and the temperature stayed in the upper 30s and low 40s. The Game Both starting pitchers were making their collegiate debuts. Guilfoil started his Lipscomb career on the right note by retiring the first seven hitters he faced. WKU’s freshman...
by Adrienne Luu | Feb 18, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
On Saturday night, the Lipscomb men’s tennis team defeated the University of North Dakota by a score of 5-2. Lipscomb’s David Skrabut, on the sixth line, won his first clinch match for the Bisons to take home the victory. Lipscomb never trailed during the match. “I’m excited for David,” Lipscomb coach Geoff Hernandez stated. “To win the last match for your team – it’s very important. It’s something you gotta break through.” On the fifth line, Lipscomb’s Jake Penny also got another win while dealing with injuries, giving the Bisons the 5-2 win. The Bisons duo of Victor Chaw and Pablo Caffarena took a win of 6-4 against the Hawks duo of Nejc Sitar and Lukas Buth at the No. 1 spot. The battles in lines two and three were very close, as both teams had to play a tiebreaker set to settle who would get the doubles point. In line two was Lipscomb’s Jorge Ortegon and Pedro Uribe against UND’s Davide Callegari and Johnnie Carmichael. The match did not end in Lipscomb’s favor when Ortegon and Uribe lost the tiebreaker 7-6. However, Bisons Jake Penny and Michael Tougher pushed through and won their tiebreaker 7-6, which gave Lipscomb a 1-0 lead. “Today, we took care of the small things,” Lipscomb assistant coach Alejandro Manzanares said. “We started off with the right energy, and as long as we do that, we should always be ahead of any team. “I feel like we should always take care of all the small things so we can start the matches with advantages and the right mindset. That always transitions to the singles...
by Spencer Boehme | Feb 17, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
KENNESAW, Ga. — Coming off a tough loss to Liberty earlier in the week, the Lipscomb men’s basketball team travelled to Kennesaw State on Saturday to take on a struggling ASUN bottomfeeder. The Bisons (21-5, 12-1 ASUN) were up to the task, as they beat the Owls (5-22, 2-10 ASUN) by a score of 83-67 at the KSU Convention Center. “I didn’t think we played particularly great, especially the first half,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. At halftime, the Bisons only led 33-29, with senior guard Garrison Mathews shooting 0-of-7. Lipscomb coughed up nine turnovers and fouled 12 times in the first half. “I think we were ready to play the game,” Alexander said. “And then when we didn’t get off to a good start, we didn’t respond that well. We didn’t treat it as if, ‘hey, it’s just not a good start. Stay with it. It’ll happen.’ “We got frustrated, got a little selfish, so it took us a while to get out of the funk.” But Lipscomb cleaned things up in the second half and made life difficult for the Owls. Kennesaw State had 16 second-half fouls, while Mathews put up 14 points. Senior forward Rob Marberry led the charge for the Bisons with a near-perfect day, shooting 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-6 on free throws for 17 total points. Junior guard Michael Buckland had 10 points. Senior forward Eli Pepper nearly posted a double-double, garnering 14 rebounds in addition to eight points. He also had a team-leading five assists. The Owls were led by redshirt junior guard Tyler Hooker, who came into the game averaging...
by Russell Vannozzi | Feb 17, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
KENNESAW, Ga. – The 2018-19 season continues to be tough sledding for the Lipscomb women’s basketball team. Despite a win over Jacksonville last Saturday and a narrow loss to Liberty on Tuesday, the Lady Bisons regressed Saturday afternoon in a 67-36 blowout loss at Kennesaw State. “I did not see this coming,” Lipscomb coach Greg Brown said. “I liked what we had done over the last few weeks. We had two very good days off practice [after losing to Liberty].” The Lady Bisons (3-22, 1-11 ASUN) committed 24 turnovers and shot just 23 percent (13-of-57) from the floor. Kennesaw State took full advantage by scoring 26 of its 67 points off turnovers. “The missed shots, especially when you miss shots in the paint, mess up your transition getting back [on defense],” Brown said. “When you have 24 turnovers and shoot 23 percent, it’s going to be tough.” The Owls led 28-18 at halftime but used a 12-0 run to start the third quarter to pull away from the Lady Bisons. Kamiyah Street had a game-high 25 points for Kennesaw State and routinely burned Lipscomb’s defense on fast breaks. Owl guard Amani Johnson also had 16 points. “I just tell them to put energy and emotion toward things you can control,” Brown said. “We’ve done a good job of that, for the most part. But we did not do a good job of that today.” Lipscomb freshman Keely Morrow was a bright spot. The forward followed up her 22-point performance at Liberty with a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. “Keely’s had a great few weeks,” Brown said. “Things are...
