by Spencer Boehme | Dec 1, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Garrison Mathews continues to highlight the Lipscomb men’s basketball team’s success, and Saturday’s game was no exception. The senior guard led Lipscomb with 29 points to help the Bisons (6-1) defeat the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (3-5) by a score of 84-74 at Murphy Center. “Here’s why he’s good,” coach Casey Alexander said of Mathews. “I mean, you look at his numbers. Obviously, you see 29 points, but he got eight of ’em from inside the arc. He got 12 of ’em from outside the arc. He got nine of ’em from the free-throw line. There just aren’t many guys that can score on all three levels at that clip.” Although the Bisons finished the first half down by one point, they stayed a step ahead in the second half, maintaining a double-digit lead numerous times. “When you have all the offensive talent that we have, they can’t just focus on me, they’re going to focus on everybody else on the floor,” Mathews said. Senior forward Eli Pepper put up the best defensive performance for the Bisons, grabbing eight defensive rebounds, four steals and two blocks. “He can play all over the floor,” Alexander said. “And so that’s a great asset for us defensively. And that’s his role. Be a good defender, and then be a great rebounder.” For the Blue Raiders, redshirt junior guard Antonio Green lit up the scoreboard, shooting 10-of-23 to finish with 30 points. Junior forward Reggie Scurry grabbed a team-leading six rebounds for Middle Tennessee. But the Blue Raiders out-fouled Lipscomb 24-18 and had just over half the amount of assists...
by Spencer Boehme | Nov 16, 2018 | News Slider, Sports, Uncategorized
Allen Arena was crowded with predominantly Bison fans for Thursday night’s edition of the Battle of the Boulevard. But the Belmont faithful traveled two miles down the road, took over a couple of sections and made their presence known. The trip down Belmont Boulevard paid off, as the Bruins (3-0) beat the Bisons (2-1) by a score of 87-83. The Bisons nearly overcame a 19-point deficit, but a late-game turnover with nine seconds left prevented that from happening. “They didn’t do anything at all that surprised us,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “And I’m sure we didn’t do anything at all that surprised them. That’s just…it’s a matter of who executes the best, and that’s usually the team that wins.” Senior guard Garrison Mathews finished with a team-high 27 points for Lipscomb. Meanwhile, Belmont freshman forward and Nashville native Caleb Hollander posted a 21-point performance, and he also had the play of the game when he forced the game-sealing turnover against junior guard Kenny Cooper. The first half was a tale of momentum swings. Belmont started out hot with a 15-5 lead, but the Bisons responded with a 25-9 run. The Bruins eventually went on a 13-4 run to take a 37-34 halftime lead. Fast-forward ten minutes through the second half. During a media timeout with 10:57 left, the Bruins held their largest lead of the game at 19 points, 65-46. “The beginning of the game, I just didn’t think we played with enough energy,” Alexander said. “And then the beginning of the second half, we didn’t guard their actions very well. They scored possession after-possession on ball screens,...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 11, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb didn’t play its smoothest basketball on Saturday, but the result still turned out just fine. The Bisons topped Tennessee State by a score of 86-79 at Allen Arena as Lipscomb alumni and fans descended on campus for Homecoming Weekend. “[TSU] really played with more passion and energy than we did for a lot of the night,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “But I give our guys great credit for just staying with it in a tough game where it wasn’t smooth and [still] finding a way to win.” Lipscomb (2-0) led just 41-40 at halftime, and the contest remained tight throughout. But Lipscomb big man Eli Pepper came through with a reverse layup with 7:40 remaining, and the Bisons never trailed after that point. Garrison Mathews delivered the dagger when he swished a three-pointer with 26 seconds left. He finished with 23 points, while junior Kenny Cooper led the team with a career-high 24 points. “It’s been a long time coming, but I feel like I can let loose and play my game,” Cooper said. “I’m a third-year guy now, so [the coaches] expect [a lot] of me. I take that to heart, and I know what I can do.” Pepper delivered perhaps the most complete performance of his college career, posting 19 points and 17 rebounds in 33 minutes played. “[He] gave us a huge lift,” Alexander said. “That’s a guy that’s really stepping up and doing what he can to help the team.” Newly-hired TSU head coach Brian “Penny” Collins played for Belmont from 2002-06 while Alexander was on the team’s staff, making for a friendly...
by Kailey Schuyler | Nov 7, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The Lipscomb men’s basketball team didn’t take long to clinch their first win of the 2018-2019 season. The Bisons handily defeated Sewanee by a score of 97-53 at Allen Arena Tuesday night. “Overall I’m definitely pleased,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “A nice margin [of victory] and everyone got to play pretty significant minutes. I felt like the mentality we had for most of the game was pretty good.” It appeared the Bisons needed to knock off some rust in the first few minutes of the game as they struggled to find their rhythm. “From game to game there are going to be stretches where you are not performing quite as smoothly as you would like, and it just happened to be the beginning of this game,” Alexander said. “We never really got in-sync offensively where we were shooting it well and scoring the ball at a high clip.” Redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah made his Lipscomb debut after suffering an ACL injury last year. He finished with 26 points and nine rebounds. “I don’t know if I was expecting 26 and 9,” Alexander said. “He played with a lot of poise. He never really rushed things, never really forced things… just kind of did his job, executed and delivered.” Asadullah said he was thrilled to be back on the court for his first game action since he graduated high school in 2017. “It’s been a long time… and I think over the whole course of the period since I’ve been hurt, and since the offseason workouts, and since the end of last season, we have really worked hard,” Asadullah...
by Russell Vannozzi | Nov 6, 2018 | News Slider, Sports
The wait is finally over for college basketball fans. The Lipscomb men’s basketball team begins its quest for a second consecutive ASUN championship on Tuesday when Sewanee pays a visit to Nashville. Lipscomb is loaded with experience, but that means expectations are high. The ASUN tabbed the Bisons as the preseason favorite to win the league, and numerous media outlets also have projected Lipscomb to return to the NCAA tournament. “Regardless of how last season went, which everyone still wants to talk about, we’d still be ready to play and excited about what’s ahead,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “It’s a fun group and a group that has a lot of potential.” Here are five storylines to watch as Lipscomb begins its season: Can the Bisons recreate last season’s magic? Championship seasons usually require the stars to align, and that’s exactly what happened for Lipscomb last year. The Bisons swept Belmont for the first time since the 2009-10 season, finished atop the ASUN with a 10-4 conference record and knocked off Florida Gulf Coast on the road to take the league title in front of a national TV audience. With each of its top six scorers returning, it’s reasonable to assume that Lipscomb’s offense could be improved in 2018-19. Couple that with the attrition that other ASUN teams have experienced during the offseason and it’s easy to see why the Bisons have been tabbed as the favorite. “We’ve got a new team with a new schedule and a new season,” Alexander said. “Our only goal is for this year’s team to be as good as this year’s team can...
