FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Lipscomb men’s basketball team was unable to overcome a scorching first half by FGCU at Alico Arena in a 68-61 ASUN Conference loss Saturday night in Fort Myers, Florida.

The Eagles (4-13, 1-1 ASUN) came out red hot in the first half and blistered the Bisons (6-9, 1-1 ASUN) to the tune of 55.2 percent from the field hitting 16-of-29 to jump out to a 38-27 lead.

The reason for the home team’s fast start can be found in the opening 3:21 of the game where FGCU knocked down 5-of-6 from long distance and converted a pair of second-chance possessions to sprint out to a 19-2 advantage.

“Obviously the game was decided in those three minutes when we got down 17 points,” head coach Lennie Acuff said. “You just can’t do that. They (FGCU) had struggled shooting the ball all season and then come out and make their first five threes.

“I thought we played hard and hung in there, but when you get behind the eight-ball like that it makes it real tough. You have to give them credit, every time we got it down to a working margin someone would jump up and make a shot.”

Despite outscoring the Eagles 25-19 the rest of the opening stanza, Lipscomb hit just 11-of-28 from the field and was outrebounded 19-13 while coughing up the rock nine times.

Sophomore Ahsan Asadullah and senior Andrew Fleming did their best to help lead a comeback for the Bisons as the duo scored 25 of their combined 43 points after the break. Asadullah grabbed his fourth double-double of the year with 25 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists – all team highs.

Fleming did most of his work in the second half, as he added 18 points and seven boards while draining a team-high five triples.

The Bisons would cut their deficit to single digits seven different times over the final 20 minutes. A layup from Asadullah with 10:07 to play and a three-pointer from Fleming at 2:04 each cut the deficit to six, but that would be as close as Lipscomb would get as the Eagles responded with clutch buckets time and time again.

“We just have to keep getting better with everybody,” Acuff said. “It was good to see Andrew make some shots tonight, and Ahsan scored it around the goal, but we just need to get a little more balanced. We had several good shots that didn’t go in and they could’ve made the game real interesting. We just need to get back to work and continue improving.”

HERD NOTES

• Lipscomb hit 24-of-63 field goal attempts for a 38 percent clip, including 8-of-27 from beyond the arc (30%).
• FGCU shot a season-high 54.2 percent from the floor on 26-of-48 field goals, while hitting 45.0 percent from deep on 9-of-20.
• The Eagles outrebouned the Bisons 36-31, despite the purple and gold reeling in 13 offensive boards for eight second chance points.
• Michael Buckland scored eight points with four rebounds and three assists.
• Freshman KJ Johnson, the team’s leading scorer, made just 1-of-8 shots for five points. He grabbed three boards and recorded a pair of assists.
• Caron Cary and Miles Miller accounted for all of the Bisons points off the bench as the Eagles outscored them 21-4.
• Lipscomb is now 7-7 all-time inside Alico Arena.
• The defeat was just the second of the season when holding the opponent to 70 points or less.

UP NEXT

The Bisons finally return home next weekend after a three-week road swing. They will host Kennesaw State at 6:30 p.m. Thursday before welcoming North Alabama at 4 p.m. Saturday as part of a double-header with the women’s team.

“You have to hold serve at home,” Acuff said. “We would’ve loved to get a sweep on the road, but we still got a split. Now we come back home next weekend and get ready to go.”