by Logan Butts | Mar 26, 2014 | News Slider
Although Tuesday began with the chill of unexpected snow flurries, it ended with Charlie Daniels and a group of his high-profile musician friends heating up Allen Arena. The fifth annual Copperweld Charlie Daniels’ Scholarship for Heroes concert — the first installment of which was held in spring 2010 — raises funds for Lipscomb University’s Yellow Ribbon Enhancement Program. The program allows post-9/11 military veterans, as well as their family members, to pursue undergraduate or graduate degrees from Lipscomb, either tuition-free or at greatly reduced costs. All proceeds from the concert go towards the scholarships of the more than 200 Yellow Ribbon students at Lipscomb. “War was very real to me,” Daniels said, “I realized that only two things protect America, and that’s the grace of God and the United States military. It’s that way then, it’s that way now, and as long as there’s an America, when these folks go and lay their lives on the line for us and come back, we owe them. I don’t view [the concert] as something glorious that I do, I view it as it is my duty.” Lipscomb students, Nashville music fans and a flurry of other folks poured into Allen Arena to see Daniels and his band, Kellie Pickler, Clint Black, The Grascals, Lee Greenwood, the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters and the American Hitmen. The host for the night was Music City broadcast personality Storme Warren, described as the “Dick Clark of Nashville” in a profile by The Tennessean morning newspaper. Director of Veterans Services Jim Humphrey, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, provided the invocation. Humphrey, also associate dean of students and the head of Lipscomb Security, will be leaving the...
by Cory Woodroof | Mar 1, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb Bisons men’s basketball team won one for the lone senior against the Stetson Hatters Saturday at Allen Arena. In an early morning tipoff, the Bisons secured a 83-76 win over Stetson. As fans munched on free goodies from Fox’s Donut Den, the Bisons engaged in a highly defensive match. In the first half, Lipscomb only made three of 13 attempts from the 3-point line, including the first points of the game, a 3-pointer from senior guard/forward Khion Sankey. Despite the troubles from beyond the perimeter, Lipscomb inched closer and closer to Stetson’s cementing lead, with the Hatters up 38-36 at the break. In the second half, the Bisons began to pick up steam. The 3-point problems began to erode, as the team made five of their 11 attempts. Lipscomb also out-rebounded Stetson 19-to-12 in the latter half. While Lipscomb never truly pulled away from the Hatters, the Bisons would hold on to win 83-76. “It feels great, especially to get a win at home,” redshirt freshman J.C. Hampton said. Freshman guard Josh Williams led the team in both scoring and rebounding with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Junior guard Martin Smith was not too far behind with 20 points. Junior guard Malcolm Smith had 18 points and six rebounds. Hampton had nine points and five rebounds. Fouling from Stetson helped Lipscomb’s cause, as the Bisons went 31-for-40 from the line. Malcom Smith hit 10 of his 12 attempts. With the win, the Bisons close the regular season with a winning record overall (15-14) and in conference (10-8). The team finished fifth in Atlantic Sun regular season play behind Florida...
by Aaron Schmelzer | Feb 28, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
Allen Arena hosted another exciting game on Thursday night as the Bisons’ basketball team topped Florida Gulf Coast University 92-71 with the help of sharp 3-point shooting. From the tip-off, the Eagles of FGCU scored two points to lead 2-0, but the Bisons answered, scoring six straight three-pointers. From there, Lipscomb never looked back, leading by 20 at the half. Bisons head coach Casey Alexander said that the shooting helped lead the team to victory. “We shot the ball great the whole night, and making our first six was a huge lift for us…confidence wise, and we held the lead from there,” Alexander said. In the second half, the Bisons cooled off, but they stayed consistent and continued to be aggressive, take shots and most importantly, make the shots. In total, Lipscomb scored fifteen three’s, six from junior forward Martin Smith, one from senior guard/forward Khion Sankey, three from freshman guard Josh Williams and three from redshirt freshman guard J.C. Hampton. Martin Smith and Hampton tied for 21 points to lead the team. Junior forward Malcolm Smith and sophomore guard Talbott Denny also scored double digits with 20 points and 11, respectively. As good as the shooting was, Alexander said that the perimeter shooting was not necessarily part of the plan on Thursday. “We just took the shots that came to us,” Alexander said. “We didn’t come out here trying to shoot a lot of three’s; that wasn’t really part of the game plan.” FGCU responded to Lipscomb’s shooting, as junior guard Brett Comer lead the charge with 27 points. It was not enough, however. The Eagles, over the course of the game, turned...
by Logan Butts | Feb 24, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
When stepping foot on any college campus across the country, you are bound to run into someone who participates in intramurals. They are a genuinely fun way to stay active and in shape without having to hit the gym or exercise by yourself at home. They can also be a way for former high school athletes to satisfy their competitive drive, despite not playing any sports for their university. Lipscomb offers a multitude of intramural sports for any students interested in playing. However, one sport always brings in more participants, and brings out more of those participants’ competitive spirit. That sport is basketball. “Basketball is the most popular of all the sports we’ve done this year,” said Evan McGee, a graduate assistant for campus recreation. McGee is in charge of the intramurals on campus, and he says more students signed up for basketball this semester than any of the other sports that they offer. There are three leagues for intramural basketball: the men’s independent league, which features a competitive and a recreational division, the women’s independent league, which has just one division and the social club league, where the school’s social clubs can form a team and compete against each other. In all, there are an astounding 39 teams competing in intramural basketball at Lipscomb this year, including 22 teams in the men’s recreational league alone. The rise of participants in the recreational league over the past few years can be attributed to the sheer difficulty of the competitive league, where it is not uncommon to see athletes from Lipscomb’s other sports teams playing on each team. There are...
by Cory Woodroof | Feb 6, 2014 | News Slider, Sports
When you extend your conference winning streak to four, the best way to do so is to win by knocking down a 3-pointer with 2.2 seconds to go in the game. At least that’s what works for the Lipscomb Bisons men’s basketball team. After a road stretch in Kentucky and Florida, freshman guard Josh Williams’ game-ending three gave the Bisons a 77-75 win over the visiting USC Upstate at Allen Arena – the fourth straight Atlantic Sun win for Lipscomb. After Thursday’s win, the Bisons are officially on a hot streak. During a tense first half, the Bisons and the Spartans swapped the lead on more than one occasion, as neither team ever truly broke away from the other. Upstate grabbed a quick 31-29 lead at the half. In the second, Lipscomb and Upstate continued to showcase the ebb-and-flow nature of their battle, with neither team getting up for too long. However, the Spartans gained late steam, holding a 71-63 lead with a little over two minutes to go. But, a Chad Johnson three-pointer gave the Bisons a spark, as Williams and redshirt freshman guard J.C. Hampton also knocked down shots from the arch to help put the Bisons within three with around a minute to go. A Hampton layup pulled the team within one, and after Williams’ last-second jaw-dropper from the three-point line, the Bisons held the Spartans’ offense during the closing seconds to get the win. Williams and Hampton led the charge for the Bisons in scoring with 21, while senior forward Torrey Craig led for the Spartans with 18. Lipscomb’s junior forward Martin Smith had 14 points, while...
