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willy p
73
Kennesaw St. KennSt 8-9,3-1 ASUN
77
Winner Lipscomb Lips 9-12,2-4 ASUN
Kennesaw St. KennSt
8-9,3-1 ASUN
73
Final
77
Lipscomb Lips
9-12,2-4 ASUN
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Kennesaw St. KennSt 35 38 73
Lipscomb Lips 38 39 77

Game Recap: Men's Basketball |

Bisons cage Owls in pivotal ASUN battle

NASHVILLE – In a much-needed ASUN Conference win, the Lipscomb men's basketball team defeated Kennesaw State 77-73 Saturday afternoon in Allen Arena.  

The victory stopped a four-game skid and improved the Bisons to 9-12 overall and 2-4 in league play. The much-improved Owls squad entered the matchup undefeated in conference, but the loss dropped them to 8-9 and 3-1.

Will Pruitt continued his hot play, leading the purple and gold with 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He was one of four Bisons in double figures as Greg Jones added 16 points behind a team-high four triples. Trae Benham followed up a 16-point performance at Eastern Kentucky with 12 on Saturday, while Ahsan Asadullah notched his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Learning from this season's struggles to close out games, Lipscomb played well down the stretch, shooting 51 percent for the game and outrebounding the Owls 38-33.

The Bisons held Kennesaw State to 37.7 percent shooting from the field and withstood 12 three-pointers from the visitors.

Lipscomb started slow out of the gate from the floor, trailing as much as 9-3 over the first three minutes of action. The lone bucket was a three from Ahsan Asadullah.

The Bisons got things rolling after Asadullah got a leaner to fall after stretching through the paint. The team's leading deep threat, Greg Jones, then nailed back-to-back deep 3-pointers to even the game up at 11.

Tommy Murr then got in on the deep action with a trey at the 12:27 mark, leading the Bisons to an 11-2 run and their largest lead of the first half at 22-15. Jacob Ognacevic made a pair of jumpers before freshmen Benham and Quincy Clark scored from inside the paint.

Despite KSU cutting its deficit to just one, another three from Jones and a jumper from Asadullah quickly stretched the lead back to seven.

The Owls wouldn't go away, however, eventually taking a one-point lead with 1:45 to play. Benham came up huge as the Concord, North Carolina product hit two clutch triples just before half to help Lipscomb take a 38-35 lead into the break.

The Bisons shot 50 percent in the first half and connected on seven deep balls, but the difference in the first 20 minutes came from the bench. Led by Benham's eight points, the Bisons bench outscored the Owls 21-5 before halftime. Ognacevic and Murr combined for 11.

The home team didn't waste any time in the second half after KSU got the first bucket. Pruitt, who after scoring just one point in the first half, reeled off seven points in an 8-0 run to extend the lead to 46-37 at the under-16 media.


After a sluggish seven-minute stretch that saw two flagarant fouls and 11 combined free throws, KSU managed to trim the Bisons lead to just two at 53-51 with 8:54 to play.

But Benham drained his third 3-pointer and the purple and gold reeled off an 11-1 run to grab its largest lead of the day just two minutes later at 64-52.

Lipscomb withstood four three-pointers over the last few minutes from KSU as Pruitt and company made clutch buckets and free throws to seal the 77-73 win.
 

NOTES
  • Lipscomb extended its win streak to 12 games against Kennesaw State.
  • The Bisons shot over 50 percent in a game for the eighth time this season, including the fourth time in league play.
  • The Bisons finished 10-of-25 from long distance, marking the eighth time they have hit 10+ in a game this season.
  • The purple and gold went 17-of-22 from the free throw line.
  • Pruitt scored 17 of his 18 points in the second half.
  • Pruitt crossed 10 points for the fifth-consecutive game and has led the Bisons in scoring in three straight. He also grabbed at least eight rebounds for the fourth time in six ASUN outings.
  • Benham is averaging 14 points over the last two games and has hit a combined 7-of-11 from three-pointers land.
 
 
UP NEXT
The Bisons travel to Jacksonville for two games this next weekend. They will take on the Dolphins of Jacksonville at 6 p.m. CT on Thursday before trekking across town to North Florida at 4 p.m. CT on Saturday.


 
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