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LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 3 seeded Lipscomb men’s basketball team dug itself a 23-point deficit and was never able to climb back out against hot-shooting and top-seeded Liberty in the ASUN Championship Final on Sunday as the Flames earned a 73-57 victory in front of a record-breaking 7,728 fans at the Vines Center.

“I will say, I am amazing proud of our team,” head coach Lennie Acuff said. “Most people would have quit when we were 7-13, but here we are playing in the conference final.

“They (Liberty) were making every shot they were taking there for a while. We got it back to 12 and then they hit a couple of big threes to stretch it back and we were never able to catch back up, but we kept playing. This team didn’t quit today and they haven’t quit all season. I just hope everyone here knows how proud I am of this team.”

Ahsan Asadullah led the Bisons (16-16) in scoring for the third-straight game as he set two conference tournament records in the process. The sophomore center totaled 89 points and 42 rebounds over the course of the three tournament contests. He finished with a game-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds and three assists. Andrew Fleming contributed 15 points and four boards for the Bisons.

“Ahsan has had as great of a season as anyone I have ever coached,” Acuff said.

The Bisons got a three from Greg Jones to open the game and then Asadullah scored the next six points to help them to a 9-7 lead five minutes into action, but from there the rest of the half belonged to the home team.

ASUN Player of the Year Caleb Homesley scored all 14 points of his first-half points in the final 15 minutes to turn Liberty’s one-point deficit into a 19-point advantage with under a minute to play in the opening stanza.

The Flames (30-4) connected on six three-pointers and shot 63 percent (17-27) from the field in the opening 20 minutes to take a 45-26 halftime lead. The Bisons turned the ball over nine times in the half, leading to 18 second-chance points for the home team.

“When you are playing against them down 19 they are tough, especially with the way they play defense,” Acuff said.

Lipscomb’s defense frustrated the Flames to open the second half, forcing them to miss their first seven shots and holding them scoreless until the 15:07 mark, all while cutting the deficit to 45-33. That would be as close as the Bisons would get as each time they would make it a 12-point game, Liberty would hit a basket or two to run it back out.

“We talked to our guys about having a strong chin,” Acuff said. “I thought we got it back to a working margin, but just couldn’t get it to single digits.”

Andrew Fleming had another solid showing with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting with four rebounds to land a spot alongside Asadullah on the All-Tournament Team.

“Coach Acuff has been so good to us,” Fleming said. “He’s the best coach I’ve every played for, the best man I’ve played for. It’s been such a pleasure to play for him this season. In my opinion, he’s the coach of the year.”

Homesley and Elijah Cuffee each tallied 16 points in the victory for Liberty, while Darius McGhee added 13 points and Myo Baxter-Bell chipped in 12 as the Flames earned their 30th victory of the season, setting a new program record. Liberty connected on 11 three-pointers in the victory on 27 attempts, while shooting 53.8 percent (28-of-52) from the floor for the game. Scottie James (8) and Georgie Pacheco-Ortiz (6) added to the offensive production for Liberty. 

All-Tournament Team
Caleb Homesley, Liberty - Championship MVP
Scottie James, Liberty
Darius McGhee, Liberty
Ahsan Asadullah, Lipscomb
Andrew Fleming, Lipscomb
Carter Hendricksen, North Florida
Christiaan Jones, Stetson

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Lipscomb held the points in the paint advantage, 36-32, but Liberty knocked down nine more three's than the Bisons.
• Liberty totaled 17 assists in the win with a team-high four from Baxter-Bell. Six players dished out at least two assists including three from Homesley, Cuffee and Pacheco-Ortiz.
• Homesley grabbed nine boards and collected two steals to earn ASUN Championship MVP accolades.
• The Flames totaled 12 points in the fast break compared to none for Lipscomb.
• Despite the loss, Lipscomb sits 7-2 in its last nine ASUN Championship games over the previous three years after three-straight trips to the conference final.
• Liberty is the ninth team to win back-to-back ASUN Championship titles and first to do so since FGCU in 2016-17.

HERD NOTES

• Asadullah averaged 29.7 points and 14.0 rebounds per game with a pair of double-doubles during the ASUN Tournament.
• After closing the campaign at 18.6 PPG, 10.1 RPG and 3.9 APG, Asadullah is only the second player in Division I since 1992-93 to post that season line (Ben Simmons - LSU; 2015-16).
• Parker Hazen and Greg Jones each added seven points, while Michael Buckland, KJ Johnson and Miles Miller finished with two.
• The Bisons say goodbye to Buckland, Fleming and John Matt Merritt as the class finishes with 88 career wins and three straight trips to the ASUN Finals.