Rob Marberry’s career night carried the Bisons over the University of North Florida Ospreys 82-75 in Allen Arena Saturday.
The redshirt junior center poured in 39 points on 18-of-24 shooting as Garrison Mathews struggled from everywhere. The ASUN’s leading scorer shot one-of-15 from the field and finished with nine points.
Trip Day hit five threes and scored 22 off the bench to lead North Florida. Noah Horchler added 11 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
Kenny Cooper was second on the Bisons in scoring with 11 and six assists. Lipscomb assisted on 22-of-33 field goals and turned the ball over just five times.
The Ospreys finished with 18 turnovers and 17 assists.
Coach Casey Alexander said the assist-to-turnover ration was “obviously the difference in the game.”
“We felt like it was really important against their zone to pass and catch cleanly, and we would get good shots, so I give our guys credit for executing that,” Alexander said.
North Florida got off to a fast start. Horchler knocked down a three-pointer on the Ospreys’ first possession and they jumped out to a 14-4 lead by the first media timeout.
Rob Marberry scored four times in the following four minutes, but UNF drained three triples to keep a 25-15 lead at the under-12 stoppage.
Trailing by 10 with less than five minutes left in the half, Kenny Cooper scored back-to-back layups to trigger a 14-4 run. Matt Rose’s corner three tied the game at 39 at the halftime bell.
Alexander said getting back to basics on defense was what changed the game in the first half.
“We made an adjustment defensively coming into the game that is not our style,” Alexander said. “We usually play pretty simple and don’t make a lot of changes, so we quit that and went back to the way that we always guard, and we got a lot better because of it.”
Trip Day drilled four threes in the first half for the Ospreys. UNF blocked seven shots and made seven threes in the period.
The lead changed hands 10 times in the second period, but the Bisons were able to put it away behind Marberry’s 27 second-half points and North Florida’s 11 turnovers.
Entering the game, the “Birds of Trey” Ospreys had made 293 threes, the second-most in the nation. UNF made 11-of-24 against the Bisons and blocked a season-high 10 shots.
The Kennesaw State University Owls defeated Jacksonville University 78-54, leaving Lipscomb in sole possession of second place in the ASUN conference.
The Bisons wrap up their regular-season road schedule next week against Stetson University and Florida Gulf Coast University.
Photo courtesy of Lipscomb Athletics