Final Score – Lipscomb: 75, Eastern Kentucky: 62
Location – Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Records – Lipscomb: 12-8 (4-3, ASUN), EKU: 12-8 (5-2, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
Behind double-digit performances from three Bisons, Lipscomb Men's Basketball defeated Eastern Kentucky 75-62 in a pivotal ASUN matchup Thursday night in Allen Arena.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Eastern Kentucky got out to a quick 4-0 lead as the Bisons struggled to get anything going offensively. The Lipscomb defense, however, held tough and kept EKU off the board for its next five attempts to keep things tight.
Jacob Oganacevic got Lipscomb on the board with a second-chance layup to cut the EKU lead in half with the Bisons' first points.
The squads battled back-and-forth for the next several minutes, but EKU was able to keep the lead until back-to-back triples from
Grant Asman and
Matt Schner tied the game at 16 a piece.
The first Lipscomb lead of the night came at the 6:40 mark of the first half when
Derrin Boyd nailed a triple from the top of the key for a 23-21 advantage.
Both teams ramped up its defense over the next three minutes to throw each other out of an offensive rhythm, but Lipscomb continued to hold a 27-25 lead at the final media timeout of the first half.
Over the final three minutes of the frame, the Bisons outscored the Colonels 8-4 to get out to a 35-29 lead at the halftime break.
The Bisons were hot out of the halftime locker room, with the first five points of the second half to stretch its lead 29-40.
Lipscomb's defense continued to be stifling as it held EKU to 33-percent shooting through the 14:27 mark of the second half.
Eastern Kentucky started to heat up offensively, cutting the Lipscomb lead to single digits, but the Bisons didn't panic and answered with big shots of its own.
The Colonels cut the Lipscomb lead to seven with 10:43 left to play, but once again Lipscomb had an answer when
AJ McGinnis nailed a trey on the other end to stretch the lead back out to double-digits.
Eastern Kentucky once again shaved the Lipscomb lead to just two possessions, but another McGinnis triple and an Ognacevic dunk opened things back up for a 58-47 lead with 8:30 to play.
Lipscomb had a 69-54 lead with 3:10 left in the contest, but EKU went on a quick 6-0 run to once again put the pressure on the Bisons.
The last two minutes of the game were all Lipscomb as the Bisons closed out a 75-62 victory against the ASUN-leading Colonels.
HERD NOTES
- Ognacevic led Lipscomb with 19 points. Boyd also had double-digits with 18 while McGinnis finished with a career-high 15 points.
- Matt Schner finished the night with a team-high 10 rebounds to along with seven points and three assists.
- Ahsan Asadullah had a team-leading four assists.
- The Bisons matched a season-high with 20 assists on the night.
- Lipscomb was 100% from the charity stripe, going 7-for-7.
- The Bisons out-rebounded the Colonels 44-41.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will be back in Allen Arena Saturday, Jan. 21 to welcome Bellarmine. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. CT.
