Final Score – Lipscomb: 85, Tennessee State: 90
Location – Nashville, Tenn. (Gentry Center)
Records – Lipscomb: 6-3, Tennessee State: 6-4
THE SHORT STORY
In a game full of wild point swings and runs, Lipscomb ultimately fell 90-85 to Tennessee State at Gentry Center Sunday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The squads traded baskets early with both defenses looking strong out of the gate. The Tigers looked to go up by two possessions for the first time, but
Jacob Ognacevic denied the shot attempt to keep the TSU lead at a pair.
Over the next minute, the Tigers held Lipscomb scoreless and knocked down a triple on the other end to take an 11-6 lead into the first media timeout. Lipscomb continued to struggle on the offensive end for the next two minutes as TSU opened up a 14-6 lead, but
AJ McGinnis stopped the bleeding with a tough take to the basket.
The Bisons' offensive woes continued as the squad was scoreless for the next three minutes which allowed the Tigers to open up a 20-8 lead with 11:48 left in the first half.
McGinnis reentered with 9:10 left in the first half and sparked a Lipscomb run with five-straight points and his strong defense on the other end forced a TSU travel to get Lipscomb back within single digits, 29-20, with 7:18 left to play in the first.
Lipscomb continued to chip away at the TSU lead, and
Grant Asman, another bench contributor, continued Lipscomb's prolonged 17-9 run with a smooth triple from the corner as Lipscomb shaved its deficit to two possessions (31-25).
Ognacevic started to heat up in the final minutes of the first half and scored on back-to-back possessions to get Lipscomb within three. Back-to-back triples from
Derrin Boyd and McGinnis gave Lipscomb back the lead with a minute left in the half.
After being down by as much as 14-points, the Bisons had all of the momentum heading into the halftime break after a 32-13 run over the final seven minutes gave Lipscomb a 40-33 lead after the first 20-minutes.
The Bisons continued to be hot out of the break with the first three buckets of the second half for a 46-33 lead to force a TSU timeout at the 18:21 mark.
Tennessee State began to show new life and mounted a 9-2 run to close the gap as the Bisons held a 48-42 lead with just under 16 left to play.
TSU cut the Lipscomb lead down to three, but a
Tommy Murr triple and
Quincy Clark bucket put the Bisons back ahead by eight. Tennessee State, however, punched back with a 9-2 run and cut the Lipscomb lead to a point, 61-60 as Lipscomb head coach
Lennie Acuff called a timeout.
TSU took its first lead since the first half at 71-70 with six minutes left in the game, but Murr nailed a triple on the other end. The pace picked up as the squads traded buckets, but the Tigers got out to a two-possession, 77-73, lead with four minutes to play.
Tennessee State looked to be running away with things, but McGinnis drilled a massive triple with 1:01 left to get Lipscomb back within a possession. The Tigers got back out to a four-point advantage, but another three-pointer from
Will Pruitt with 10.7 left in regulation saw the Tennessee State advantage to 86-65.
With 10 seconds left and a three-point deficit, the Bisons inbounded the ball, but were unable to get a good shot off and TSU came away with a 90-85 victory at the Gentry Center.
HERD NOTES
- Lipscomb shot 59.6% from the floor while TSU shot 51.6%.
- Ognacevic led Lipscomb scoring with 19 points. Other double-digit contributors included Pruitt (10), Boyd (11), McGinnis (11), Clark (13) and Murr (11).
- The Bisons outrebounded the Tigers 29-25.
- There were eight lead changes and three ties during the 40 minutes.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will return home to Allen Arena on Wednesday, Dec. 14 to play host to Tennessee Tech. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. CT.
