JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Lipscomb men’s basketball team ran into a hot-handed North Florida team on the road Saturday evening and fell to the Ospreys 82-74 on senior night inside the UNF Arena.
Lipscomb (13-15, 8-7 ASUN) started the game a little sluggish, allowing North Florida (19-11, 12-3 ASUN) to nail back-to-back triples and build a 10-2 lead to open the action. After Ahsan Asadullah and Greg Jones helped bring the Bisons back to within striking distance, the Ospreys began flexing their muscle from long range.
JT Escobar bookended a run of six three-pointers in eight field goal makes for UNF and the home team built its largest lead of the game at 38-18 with under six minutes remaining in the first half. But like the Bisons have done all season long, they never flinched.
KJ Johnson scored four straight points and Michael Buckland buried a trey from the corner to spark a Lipscomb run. Down 17 with 1:24 on the clock, Greg Jones reeled off six consecutive points for the purple and gold, including a banked three at the buzzer to cut the deficit to single digits heading into the locker room.
Despite the Bisons shooting 55.2 percent from the floor, North Florida was 12-of-22 from 3-point range and 51.5 percent as a team.
Lipscomb started the second half on a good note and cut the lead to 53-47 after a 6-0 run in thanks to buckets from Buckland, Andrew Fleming and Asadullah.
It didn’t take long, however, for the Ospreys to take their six-point lead and stretch it back out to 20 with seven minutes to play following an 18-4 run.
Lipscomb made one final charge when Asadullah found Parker Hazen on three of the next four possessions to open an 11-0 run and get the game back to single digits.
The Bisons continued fighting and pulled to within seven points in the final seconds, but it was not enough as UNF sealed the game at the line.
On that final assist to Hazen, Asadullah put himself one helper away from the program’s third triple-double in the NCAA era with 4:33 to play, but the sophomore was whistled for his fifth foul just seconds later, ending his night with 17 points, 14 rebounds and nine assists.
Lipscomb knocked down 28-of-56 shots (50%), including 4-of-12 from deep (33.3%) and 14-of-15 from the stripe (93.3%).
UNF hit 25-of-63 field goals (40%) and drained 15-of-34 (44.1%) from long distance. The Ospreys were also fantastic at the line, nailing 17-of-19 attempts (89.5%).
HERD NOTES
- Lipscomb’s season-best five-game win streak was snapped with the defeat. It was also the first time in five meetings that UNF got the best of the Bisons.
- Asadullah notched his 13th double-double of the season and his 14th game of double-digit rebounds. Eight of his 13 double-doubles have come in the last nine outings.
- Buckland shot 6-of-12 from the floor and finished with 15 points, six rebounds, three assists, a career-high tying three blocks and two steals.
- Greg Jones was the third Bison in double figures with 14 points behind 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
- Hazen and Carson Cary each finished with eight points, while Johnson and Fleming followed with six apiece.
- The Bisons won the rebounding battle 34-32 and dominated the points in the paint, 42-20.
- UNF scored 14 points off 13 Lipscomb turnovers.
UP NEXT
The Bisons return home for Senior Day on Saturday hosting the ASUN’s top seed Liberty at 1 p.m. inside Allen Arena for the regular season finale. Lipscomb will honor seniors Michael Buckland and Andrew Fleming in a pregame ceremony on the court.
The game will air live on ESPN+. To purchase tickets visit http://www.LipscombTickets.com or call 615-966-HERD (4373).
