Monday, January 15, 2007

Jan. 15, 2007

MACON, Ga. - Lipscomb forward Eddie Ard shouldered the burden offensively for Lipscomb as the Bisons won a pair of league games last week, earning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week honors.

The junior needed to step up in Lipscomb's home game versus Mercer as fellow All-Atlantic Sun performer Brian Fisk missed the game with injury and the league's top three-point shooter Trey Williams logged just 14 minutes due to foul trouble. In response, the LaPlace, La., native scored 24 points against the Bears on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor to hand the Bisons their 17th consecutive win at Allen Arena. To cap the week, Ard overcame a tough shooting night to net a game-high 17 points in Lipscomb's crucial road win versus longtime rival Belmont.

The victory drew Lipscomb within a game of A-Sun co-leaders Belmont and ETSU while it snapped a 14-game home winning streak versus A-Sun foes for the Bruins. For the week, the preseason A-Sun Player of the Year averaged 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while hitting 14-of-25 shots from the floor. Overall, Ard is second in the league in scoring (16.9 PPG) but is the A-Sun's top scorer in conference games, averaging 20.1 points per game. Ard is majoring in Marketing.

The Atlantic Sun Conference hands out Player of the Week awards weekly during the 2006-07 men's basketball campaign.

The 12-member league headquartered in Macon, Ga., consists of Belmont, Campbell, ETSU, Gardner-Webb, Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Mercer, UNF and Stetson with Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate beginning competition in 2007-08.

OTHER TOP PERFORMERS

• Brad Nuckles, ETSU (Sr. - F - Council, Va. - Sports Mgmt Graduate Program) Posted back-to-back double-doubles to lift ETSU into tie for first place

• Shaddean Aaron, Mercer (Jr. - F - Pomona, Calif. - Computer Science Major) Game-winning tip-in at buzzer highlights 21 points versus Campbell

• Jesse Kimbrough, Jacksonville (Sr. - G - Mexia, Texas - Graduate) Scored season-high 24 points on 11-of-12 shooting in win at Kennesaw State