NASHVILLE -  In an anticipated matchup with ASUN co-leader North Florida, the Lipscomb men’s basketball proved the road to the top isn’t as easy as it seems. The Bisons welcomed the Ospreys to Music City with an 85-73 victory Saturday in Allen Arena.

The victory improved Lipscomb to 8-13 overall and 3-5 in the conference, while UNF fell to 12-10 and 5-2.

Despite facing the nation’s top three-point unit, the Bisons were too hot to handle for the Ospreys. They shot 48.4 percent for the game, including a 52 percent clip in the second half, and scored the most points against North Florida this season in league play.

Ahsan Asadullah, the ASUN’s 2nd-leading scorer, put together another monster outing for the purple and gold. He finished with a team-high 23 points, grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds and dished a career high-tying eight assist. It marks the second straight game the sophomore center finished two assists shy of a triple-double.

“It was a good win,” Asadullah said. “Coach Acuff has been telling us to just stay the course and we knew this would be a big opportunity for us. This was a huge confidence booster for us.”

Senior Michael Buckland scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting to go along with five boards and three assists. Greg Jones had a big day as well, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the first half and pulling down four rebounds.

“Buck is playing as well as any guard in our league right now,” head coach Lennie Acuff said.

Looking to snap a four-game losing skid, the Bisons came out of the gate sharp with Greg Jones scoring the first six points on back cut after back cut and Andrew Fleming adding a layup to take an 8-7 lead just four minutes into the action.

UNF responded with three straight triples and eventually built a 29-23 lead at the under-eight media timeout. Down five with under seven minutes to play in the stanza, Lipscomb mounted a 9-0 run to regain the lead and go into the half up 45-43.

“I thought our guys were really unselfish tonight,” Acuff said. “Probably one of the most unsung parts of the game was the way it started with Greg Jones. He was fantastic and it really got us going.”

UNF’s senior point guard Ivan Gandia-Rosa pushed the Ospreys back in front by four with a pair of long range bombs to open the second half, but things quickly turned in favor of the homestanding Bisons.

Jumpstarted by nine straight points from Asadullah and Parker Hazen, Lipscomb turned a four-point deficit into a 63-52 lead behind a 15-0 run. The Bisons would never trail again.

“The coaches kept telling me I needed to be more aggressive, so I took that personal and started looking to score in the second half, Asadullah said.

The ASUN’s top scoring offense, North Florida went nearly 8:30 without a point and over nine minutes without a field goal. By the time the Ospreys scored, the damage had already been done.

Lennie Acuff and the Bisons turned to Asadullah as the big man put the game away with 11 of the team’s final 14 points.

“We’ve had several times this season where we’ve told Ahsan he has to take us home, and buddy he took us home tonight,” Acuff said. “He is some kind of talented.”

HERD NOTES

• Lipscomb shot 31-of-64 from the floor, including 6-of-9 from deep (67%) and 17-of-22 from the charity stripe (77%).
• The Bisons dominated the paint behind Asadullah, 44-20, and controlled the battle of the boards, 47-31. It was the most rebounds for the team since the season opener against Rhodes (51).
• Buckland has now put together back-to-back games of 20+ points for the first time in his career. The High Point, North Carolina native also played all 40 minutes after putting in a career-high 44 minutes on Thursday.
• Asadullah has scored 20+ points in five of the last seven games, and now has three games this season of eight or more assists.
• Hazen added seven points and five rebounds in 14 minutes, while KJ Johnson and Miles Miller each scored six.
• Andrew Fleming was one of four Bisons to grab at least five rebounds, finishing with three points and five boards.

UP NEXT

Lipscomb gets a few days off before returning to action next Saturday to host Stetson at 4 p.m. in Allen Arena.