by Mckenzi Harris | Apr 6, 2019 | Galleries
Men’s basketball returned home to campus from New York City yesterday afternoon. Students and media showed up outside Allen Arena to welcome the team home. One main question people have now that the Bisons’ season is over is if Coach Casey Alexander will stay at Lipscomb to coach or move across the Boulevard to coach at Belmont. “Obviously there’s a lot of people talking about that,” he said at Lipscomb’s welcome home ceremony Friday afternoon. “I’m glad I’m the Lipscomb coach. We’ll deal with that when it happens, if it happens.” Alexander’s mentor and longtime Belmont head coach Rick Byrd announced his retirement Monday morning after 33 years on the Bruin sidelines. Alexander has routinely credited Byrd for impacting his life both on and off the court. “Belmont is important to me,” Alexander told 104.5 The Zone’s 3HL show Wednesday. “I spent 20 years there, I graduated from there, my wife graduated from there. I’ve got a history of 20 teams of players that were important to me. Hardly anybody’s more important to me than Coach Byrd is.” Full story by Russell Vannozzi here. Photos by Mckenzi Harris « ‹ of 2 ›...
by Russell Vannozzi | Apr 5, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
Lipscomb senior Garrison Mathews has accepted an invite to the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, a four-day showcase in front of NBA scouts. Coach Casey Alexander confirmed the news at the team’s welcome home ceremony outside Allen Arena Friday afternoon. “It’s well-deserved,” Alexander said. “That’s the opportunity that will lead to his professional career and what kind of looks that he gets.” Mathews finished the season averaging 20.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He earned ASUN Player of the Year Honors and broke the school’s Division I scoring record with 2,480 career points. The Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational was established in 1953 to allow the nation’s 64 best college seniors a chance to showcase their skills in a 12-game tournament. All 30 NBA teams will have representatives at the tournament, which is slated for April 17-20 at the Churchland High School Sports Complex. Mathews is not currently listed in any NBA mock drafts. But he averaged 26 points per game in the NIT and likely turned heads with his 44-point outing at NC State and his 34-point performance against Wichita State in Madison Square Garden. “You go back-to-back games against NC State and Wichita State with 78 [combined] points…I think he probably got some people’s attention,” Alexander said. Only two Lipscomb players have ever been selected in the NBA Draft, and both came when the draft had more rounds. The 2019 draft consists of just two rounds and 60 overall picks. No former Bisons have ever appeared in an NBA game, so Mathews has a chance to become the first. Ron Rippitoe became the school’s first player selected in the draft...
by Russell Vannozzi | Apr 5, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
March 10 was a heartbreaking day for the Lipscomb men’s basketball team. After being projected by every major bracketologist to be in the NCAA tournament, the Bisons saw their dreams fade in a 74-68 loss to Liberty in the ASUN championship game. Even worse, the defeat came in front of a record Allen Arena crowd of 5,687. But the Bisons refused to fold despite the disappointment. Instead, they delivered a thrilling NIT run that ended with an 81-66 championship loss to Texas in New York Thursday night. “We’re disappointed we didn’t play better, but the only thing to be sad about is this team doesn’t have any more days together,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “But we have to finish it up, because we maxed out pretty well.” The Bisons played five NIT games and won four of them. Garrison Mathews, undoubtedly the team’s star, put on several unforgettable performances and averaged 26 points per NIT contest. The final two games came in Madison Square Garden on primetime television. It’s hard to ask for much more, other than, say, an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. “They’re as good as any team we’ve played this year,” UNCG coach Wes Miller said following his team’s 86-69 loss to Lipscomb March 23. “Wofford is a great basketball team, and Lipscomb is on that level – they should be in the NCAA tournament. And I think they’d be winning games in the NCAA tournament.” But not everyone is a believer. Senior forward Rob Marberry and his purple-clad teammates were mistaken for TCU players at a New York Starbucks earlier this week. Later, in a...
by Erin Franklin | Apr 5, 2019 | Galleries, News Slider, Newscast
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The postseason magic finally ran out for the Lipscomb men’s basketball team in Thursday’s NIT championship game. Texas used 13 three-pointers and its pesky defense to take the NIT title with an 81-66 victory over Lipscomb in Madison Square Garden. Senior forward Rob Marberry led the Bisons with 17 points, while senior guard Garrison Mathews had 15 and led with eight rebounds. “They did an excellent job guarding us,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “Garrison, for a large part, [they] took him out of the game, especially until he got to the free throw line [in] the second half.” Full story here. Photos by Erin Franklin « ‹ of 2 ›...
by Lumination Staff | Apr 5, 2019 | News Slider, Sports
NEW YORK – The postseason magic finally ran out for the Lipscomb men’s basketball team in Thursday’s NIT championship game. Texas used 13 three-pointers and its pesky defense to take the NIT title with an 81-66 victory over Lipscomb in Madison Square Garden. Senior forward Rob Marberry led the Bisons with 17 points, while senior guard Garrison Mathews had 15. “We had an expectation to win the game,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander said. “We thought we could win the game. We’re disappointed we didn’t win the game.” The Longhorns (21-16) made things difficult for Lipscomb’s offense, and Texas guard Courtney Ramey kept Mathews off balance for most of the night. Mathews did not make a field goal until he swished a three with 8:10 remaining in the game. “[The Bisons] did a great job battling back and fighting in the second half,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “But I thought Courtney Ramey was probably the biggest difference in this game, even though he didn’t score a lot. But he did a phenomenal job on Garrison Mathews, who is one of the best scorers in the country.” The Bisons (29-8) scored 14 of their first 20 points in the paint thanks to Marberry and redshirt freshman Ahsan Asadullah, who finished with 11 points. The Bisons led 22-19 with 6:42 to go in the first half. But the Longhorns used their size and athleticism to clog the lane and force contested shots. The Bisons had only five three-pointers all game. “They did a great job of just running screens and being there on the catch and taking shots away,” Alexander said....
