Four Lipscomb Bisons scored in double digits in a 87-79 victory against the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles at Allen Arena on Thursday night.
Martin Smith, J.C. Hampton, Josh Williams and Malcolm Smith all broke the double-digit barrier.
Junior forward Martin Smith led all scorers, putting up 24 points and going 12 for 14 from the free throw line.
“I got to the free throw line, got my rhythm going and kept it going from there,” Martin Smith said.
He credited his teammates on the evening’s accomplishments.
J.C. Hampton had 19 points and was four for five from behind the arc. The redshirt freshman point guard said that that team wants to keep an up-tempo pace.
“We want to play fast the whole game,” Hampton said. “We want to get out as quick as possible and get quick baskets. We practice hard to play fast.”
Freshman guard Josh Williams had 20 points, a career-high for the new Bison.
Malcolm Smith knocked down 11 points against the Golden Eagles and went four for five from the field.
The win moved the Bisons to 4-4, while Tennessee Tech fell to 5-5. The game started out with a couple of fouls on each team, but the pace quickened, and with the fast pace, Lipscomb turned the ball over seven times in the first half, while Tennessee Tech had 11 turnovers.
The turnovers lessened as the game went on, but Hampton says that team needs to be a little more careful with the ball.
“[We need to] just slow it down a little bit, not being so passive and control the ball a little bit better, but it’s going to be better,” Hampton said.
The game was close throughout until the Bisons began to pull away. However, with five minutes in the game, the Golden Eagles soared back on an eight-point run that lasted over two minutes.
With the help of the run, Tennessee Tech gave Lipscomb a run for their money until a number of free throws and key baskets near the end of the game sealed the victory for the Bisons.
The Bisons begin a five-game stretch of road games, starting against Murray State on Saturday, Dec. 7.
Game notes: Golden Eagles’ junior forward Dwan Caldwell had 13 rebounds for the night. Tennessee Tech’s bench scored 38 points; Lipscomb’s scored 21. Lipscomb scored 10 second-chance points, while Tennessee Tech scored 17 second-chance points.
Photo credit: Whitney Jarreld