by Hunter Patterson | Jan 29, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons had gone winless in two tries before playing Belmont in the ’67-’68 season. Still, Lipscomb was averaging over 90 points a game and won the last four times when playing in Belmont’s gym. Moreover, the Rebels of Belmont had already upset a top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan just in its first game. However, the Bisons coached by Guy Phillips, would not be able to beat Belmont that time around or the rest of the season for that matter. In the game at Belmont the Bisons lost 102-86 followed up by an uncharacteristically low scoring affair, a 54-46 loss at Lipscomb. There is no word if they were playing a half-court game during that second matchup. The loss at Belmont started the biggest win streak for the Rebels/Bruins during the entire 129 game series. During the first outing, both Coach Phillips and his team were very (overly) optimistic about their chances heading into what was then called a mere “cross-town rivalry” with no boulevard at stake. Take Eddie Montgomery (no, not the taller half of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry) went into the Belmont game thinking they could beat not only the Rebs but also any other team in the country. “We’ve got the offense to blow somebody out of the gym. Our fast-break is working like a charm, and we should be able to run Belmont to death.” The entire article from the December 1967 Babbler can be read below. By Byron Nelson Cross-town rivalry flares up again tomorrow afternoon as the Bisons invade Belmont to take on the Rebels in their Homecoming game at 2 p.m. Traditionally,...
by Hunter Patterson | Jan 26, 2011 | News Slider, Sports
Respect, bragging rights, an undefeated record and an entire boulevard were at stake on Tuesday night when the Battle of the Boulevard went down inside Allen Arena. Coming off of a big win against USC Upstate, the Bisons had all the confidence in the world that they would be able to improve since the last time they faced the Bruins. The Bisons lost that game 88-52 less than two weeks ago. With the deck stacked against them coming into the game and for much of the first half, the Bisons were able to rally from an 18-point deficit with 24 minutes left in the game. “For the first 16 minutes, we were not very good,” Coach Scott Sanderson said. “We didn’t do anything we wanted to do offensively and defensively. I was extremely aggravated at our players.” In the last four minutes of the first half, the Bisons started their run. Trailing 38-20, the Bisons cut it to 40-31 with an 11-2 run that re-energized not only the team but the fans as well. Luckily for Sanderson, the Bisons did not stop their scoring when the half ended. The Bisons came out red-hot and outscored their cross-town rivals 42-24. “To come back from an 18-point deficit says even more about the resiliency of our players,” Sanderson said. “But it is one game with nine more games to go. We have 32 days to keep getting better until March gets here.” After the game at Belmont earlier this month, some questioned if Lipscomb center Adnan Hodzic was outmatched by Belmont big men Mick Hedgepeth and Scott Saunders. The Bosnian native...
