by Russell Vannozzi | Jan 22, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
March is still a long ways off, but the Lipscomb men’s basketball team has consistently appeared in various predictions for the Big Dance. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi listed the Bisons as a No. 12 seed playing Villanova in Salt Lake City. CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm also tabbed Lipscomb as a No. 12 seed, but he had the Bisons playing North Carolina in San Jose. SB Nation will release its new projections on Tuesday, but the Bisons were listed as a No. 2 seed in the NIT in last week’s edition. Bisons land at No. 46 in NET rankings; still rank high in mid-major polls The latest NET rankings have Lipscomb at No. 46 in the country – slightly down from its previous ranking of No. 39 on Jan. 17. But that is still good for second-best in the state behind No. 4 Tennessee. The Bisons are also No. 10 in SB Nation’s Mid-Major Madness poll and No. 8 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Greg Jones likely to miss rest of season Coach Casey Alexander confirmed that guard Greg Jones is expected to miss the remainder of the year with a knee injury that will require surgery. The sophomore last played on Dec. 12 at Louisville and only appeared in nine games this season. The news is especially crushing because Alexander believed Jones was heading for a “breakout” campaign. “He had a great preseason in the summer and fall, and he played with great confidence,” Alexander said. “He made great contributions as a sub off the bench early in the year. But he’s got some great days ahead.” Alexander...
by Spencer Boehme | Jan 22, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s basketball team continued to steamroll through the ASUN as the Bisons grabbed an 86-57 win over the Kennesaw State Owls in Allen Arena Monday night. The Owls (3-17, 0-5 ASUN) kept things a bit too close for comfort for Lipscomb at first, but the Bisons (14-4, 5-0 ASUN) broke away in the second half to stay perfect in conference play. “[You’ve] gotta be prepared for everything,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “And I felt like our guys handled the game where we never really played with great rhythm but still [won] by 29.” The Bisons were led by senior guard Garrison Mathews, who posted 25 points and tied for a team-leading four assists. Senior guard Nathan Moran led the Bisons in three-pointers, shooting 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. “It’s just a start, and we have a lot of work to do,” Moran said. “If we can finish and do another 5-0, and another 5-0 [and] another 5-0, who knows where we’ll be?” Redshirt junior guard Tyler Hooker scored 18 for the Owls and led his team with five rebounds. Junior forward Isaac Mbuyamba finished with three blocks. The Bisons went 20-of-27 on free throws compared to the Owls’ 15-of-22. They also out-rebounded Kennesaw State 42-31, with 11 of those coming from senior forward Eli Pepper. Lipscomb won the steal battle, 8-5. “[Kennesaw State’s] pace is tough for us,” Alexander said. “Their tempo is slow and [they have] a lot of long possessions defensively.” The Owls played competitively for the first six minutes of the game, as they cut Lipscomb’s 7-2 lead to 11-7 with 14:36 to...
by Russell Vannozzi | Jan 13, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Senior guard Garrison Mathews is rewriting the Lipscomb basketball record books. Thanks to a 20-point performance against Stetson on Saturday, Mathews eclipsed the 2,000-point mark for his career and passed Adnan Hodzic (2,002) as the school’s leading scorer in the NCAA Division I era, which began with the 2001-02 season. “I struggled my freshman year, and I didn’t think I’d be at this point when I got here,” Mathews said. “I knew I had to work hard, and I did. I’ve got great coaches and teammates that have helped me along the way.” Senior forward Rob Marberry led all scorers with 23 points, and freshman Jake Wolfe emerged as an offensive threat with 16 points in Lipscomb’s 95-71 thrashing of the Hatters in front of 1,388 Allen Arena fans. “The scoring was really spread out, which was awesome to see,” Marberry said. “Teams don’t really know how to guard us. They can’t tell if it’s going to be one guy’s night or another player’s [night].” Lipscomb (12-4, 3-0 ASUN) started slow, and Stetson held a 19-18 lead after nine minutes of play. But the Bisons finished the final 10 minutes of the first half on a 38-11 run to take a 56-30 halftime lead and quell any concerns of a Stetson upset. “When you create a margin like that at halftime, you’ve obviously played well,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “I was not pleased with the consistency of play. I felt like we had a lot of breakdowns and it wasn’t really clean, but I’ll take it overall.” Mathews also set Lipscomb’s record for three-pointers in the NCAA era....
by Grant Ledgister | Jan 10, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
ASUN conference play is heating up, which means every game is important and no opponent should be underestimated. It was touch-and-go for a good portion of the first half, but the Lipscomb men’s basketball team turned up the heat on the North Florida Ospreys and never let go in an 81-66 victory at Allen Arena Tuesday night. Senior guard Garrison Mathews returned to action after missing last Saturday’s game with a leg injury he suffered at Clemson on Dec. 30. He scored 25 points and knocked down five shots from beyond the arc, in addtion to giving the Bisons a boost with his veteran leadership and poise. Lipscomb (11-4, 2-0 in ASUN play) has dropped four of its last five games to the Ospreys (7-10, 1-1 in ASUN play), and early on in Wednesday’s contest it looked as if trend might continue. Despite senior forward Eli Pepper grabbing his Lipscomb record-setting 841st rebound, neither team was playing particularly well. The teams combined for 16 turnovers – 9 of which were committed by Lipscomb – with around 8 minutes to go in the half. Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said he was disappointed with how often his team turned it over. “This is three games in a row where we’ve uncharacteristically made a lot of turnovers,” he said. “We’ve got to fix it. It’s personal pride. It’s just being a little bit more solid decision-making performance.” The Bisons wouldn’t make the fix before the end of the first half, going on to commit 6 more turnovers. But they kept pouring on the points anyway. A good stretch of possessions, including a...
by Russell Vannozzi | Dec 30, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
CLEMSON, S.C. – 2018 was a special year for the Lipscomb men’s basketball team. The Bisons won the ASUN tournament title, made their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance and continued their mid-major relevance by starting this season 9-3. But their last performance of the year was one to forget. Lipscomb shot the ball poorly in the first half and committed a season-high 22 turnovers in an 84-67 loss to Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum Sunday. “Turnovers affected us in a big way, and I give [Clemson] credit for that,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander told LipscombSports.com. “Anyone who watches our team play knows [that] was uncharacteristic of us.” Senior guard Garrison Mathews led the Bisons with 19 points. He injured his left leg in the second half but returned seven minutes later and finished out the game with a noticeable limp. Clemson (10-3) used its size and speed to give Lipscomb fits throughout the game. The Tigers had 15 steals and six blocks on the defensive end, while guard Marcquise Reed (26 points) and forward David Skara (17 points) made their presence felt on offense in front of 7,879 fans. Lipscomb (9-4) outscored Clemson 40-38 in the second half, but the Bisons’ 19-point halftime deficit (46-27) was too much to overcome. Lipscomb shot just 38 percent (8-of-21) in the first 20 minutes. “We just needed to play better in the second half because we thought we could still win the game,” Alexander said. “We cut the margin significantly at the first media timeout just by being more solid and not making mistakes, but over the course of 40 minutes, Clemson was a lot better...
