by Anna Rogers | Mar 6, 2018 | Galleries, Sports
The lipscomb men’s basketball team defeated Florida Gulf Coast University in the ASUN championship Sunday to earn its first-ever berth in the NCAA Tournament. The bisons returned to campus from Fort Myers Monday evening to an Allen Circle packed with fans and students. Photos by Ben Davis...
by Cole Gray | Mar 5, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
After Sunday night’s ASUN Championship win, Lipscomb is going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time! College basketball’s Bracketology wizards will offer predictions about the final tournament bracket throughout the week. This post will be updated daily with the latest news about the Bisons’ seeding and potential opponents. The official tournament bracket will be revealed on March 11, Selection Sunday, at 5:00 PM on TBS. Lipscomb Athletics is hosting a Selection Show watch party beginning at 4:00 PM Sunday. The games begin March 13 with the First Four. The First Round begins March 15. March 6 Yahoo Sports: Bracket Brad’s Big Board has the Bisons penciled in as a 15-seed. Potential opponent updates: Arkansas-Pine Bluff plays Mississippi Valley State in the SWAC Tournament Championship at 7:30 tonight for a ticket to the Big Dance. Duke is off until the ACC Tournament tips off Thursday. The Blue Devils are fighting for a 1-seed. The ACC could send ten or more teams to the NCAAs this year. Auburn is awaiting its opponent in the SEC Tournament. The Tigers earned the 1-seed and a double-bye in the conference tournament. March 5 ESPN: Bracketologist Joe Lunardi at ESPN has Lipscomb squaring off in the First Four with the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions for a 16-seed and the right to play the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers. The Golden Lions (12-20) haven’t won a game outside of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, but their 12-6 record in conference play was good for second place in the regular season. That matchup would take place March 13 or 14 in Dayton, Ohio at the University of Dayton Arena, less than six hours...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 5, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb faithful filled the Hall of Fame room in Allen Arena to witness an unforgettable ASUN championship victory for the Lipscomb University men’s basketball team. On Sunday afternoon, several fans attended the watch party held by the university’s Student Activities Board and saw the No. 2 Lipscomb Bisons overpower the No. 1 Florida Gulf Coast Eagles. The ASUN Championship victory sends Lipscomb to territory it has never crossed into before — the NCAA tournament, the “Big Dance,” March Madness — whatever you want to call it. “It’s arguably the biggest thing to ever happen to the university,” SAB director Louis Nelms said. “And that’s not an overstatement. Hundreds of millions of people will be filling out brackets next week and reading Lipscomb’s name.” Lipscomb sent a handful of students to Alico Arena by bus, but the game was nationally televised on ESPN. “Florida’s a long way away,” Nelms said, “And I know there’s a lot of fans that couldn’t make the game.” This particular Sunday, campus was calm and quiet, and the weather outside was sunny and balmy. Inside Allen Arena, both the the Hall of Fame room and the lobby outside the room were lined up with several chairs and televisions. Another group of chairs could be spied at the south lobby. Fans had access to cookies, pulled pork sandwiches, queso and chips — there was plenty of food for everyone. “A lot of people put work into this event,” Nelms said. ” . . . We wanted to provide an opportunity for Lipscomb fans to watch the game together, even though you can’t make the game.”...
by Cole Gray | Mar 4, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb University Bisons are going to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. Lipscomb (22-9) defeated the top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles (23-10) 108-96 in the ASUN Conference Championship in Fort Myers to earn an automatic bid to the tournament. It was, to put it mildly, a barn-burner. Garrison Mathews put up 33 points and nine boards for the Bisons. Brandon Goodwin and Zach Johnson scored 34 and 37, respectively, for FGCU. The teams combined for 37 turnovers and 28 three-pointers made. Each side dominated one half of the game. Mathews came out firing. The ASUN’s leading scorer canned his first four shots, three of them from deep, as the Bisons roared out to a 24-9 lead. He said Coach Casey Alexander told the team to enjoy the stage, but treat it like another game. Matt Rose and Aaron Korn kept the good times rolling with threes of their own—Lipscomb started the game 7-of-9 from deep. Eli Pepper threw down an alley-oop dunk assisted by Kenny Cooper, then the pair connected again for another Pepper jam. George Brammeier scored a pair of layups. Mathews just kept scoring. When the dust settled on the Bisons’ breakneck first half, Mathews had 26 points on 13 shots. Lipscomb led 60-31, good for the Bisons’ highest-scoring half of the year. The Bisons shot 20-of-30 from the field and assisted on 16 of those baskets. Cooper dished out nine of those assists and finished the game with 17 points. In the first, FGCU survived on a diet of contested threes and midrange jumpers, shooting 12-of-29 and turning the ball...
by Parker Bell | Mar 3, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lady Bisons opened the first round of the ASUN conference tournament with a dominant 42-point win over the No. 5 seed USC Upstate. Lipscomb cruised against USC Upstate in a 95-53 victory to reach the tournament semifinals for the first time since 2008. The win margin set a record for the largest victory in an ASUN conference tournament game. Lipscomb fell to USC Upstate earlier in the regular season 80-64. “With a sense of finality for these seniors, they played with greater aggressiveness and awareness during the game,” coach Greg Brown said. Both teams came out hot from behind the arc. Emily Kmec nailed a three-pointer from deep, and it was answered by three from Anda Kuzmina. The three-point shooting was followed by droughts for both teams. Solid defense from the Bisons’ 2-3 set forced seven turnovers in the first quarter and a dry spell that lasted 4:11. Poor shooting and turnovers held Lipscomb back on the offensive end. They finished the low scoring quarter with a lead of 15-10 behind some handiwork in the paint from Taylor Clark. Kmec started the second quarter off right with another three, followed by another two possessions later. She finished the night with 18 points, hitting six of nine from three. Kmec also grabbed four boards. Midway through the second quarter Loren Cagle displayed her skills in a dazzling play in which she dribbled through the defense and then back out to nail a three-pointer. This was followed by a three on the next possession from Kennedy Potts assisted by Cagle, who was named ASUN player of the year earlier in...
by Spencer Boehme | Mar 2, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
Garrison Mathews scored a team-high 23 points as Lipscomb defeated Jacksonville in a 77-62 victory to send the Bisons to their first ASUN championship game since 2006. The Bisons (22-9) entered Thursday’s game against the Jacksonville Dolphins (15-18) in an attempt to break a three-game losing streak in the conference semifinals. They did just that, winning the shooting percentage battle 45.8 percent to 41.8 percent and the assist battle 19-9. The Bisons head to FGCU on Sunday for the championship. “You walk in there, and it’s 0-0,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said of the upcoming game, “and you’re playing a great team in a great environment in a championship game, so you’ve got to expect their best.” One of the biggest keys of the game for the Bisons was limiting redshirt senior guard Devin Harris and sophomore guard Tanner Rubio to a combined 2-of-15 on field goals. Both players were starters. “Our main objective was to try to shut [Harris] down and keep him away from the basket,” Lipscomb junior center Rob Marberry said. “I think we did a good job of that in the first half, and in the second half we carried over.” Dolphins’ freshman guard JD Notae, who had scooped up the ASUN Freshman of the Year award, missed his third straight game due to an injury. Redshirt senior forward Cody Helgeland scored nine of Jacksonville’s 23 field goals for a team-high 24 points. Freshman guard Jalyn Hinton scored all 12 of the Dolphins’ points off the bench. Junior forward Eli Pepper led the Bisons with eight rebounds, while Harris gave the Dolphins a team-high 11....
