Final Score – Lipscomb: 59, Wichita State: 76
Location – Wichita, Kan. (Charles Koch Arena)
Records – Lipscomb: 0-1, Wichita St. 1-0
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Men's Basketball put up a strong performance Monday night in their season opener in Wichita, Kan., taking an early lead in the first half before ultimately falling 76-59 to the Wichita State Shockers.
AJ McGinnis and
Derrin Boyd led the Bisons with 17 and 12 points respectively with a team-high six rebounds from
Will Pruitt.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Boyd kicked things off for the Bisons, draining a three pointer to mark Lipscomb's first basket of the season and put the squad on the board early.
AJ McGinnis was next on the stat boards with a three to bring the score tied at 6-6 just over three minutes into the first half. After the Shockers answered with a driving layup, McGinnis stepped up again with a layup of his own to extend the tie to 8-8.
Play continued with missed shots from both teams and big defensive work, but the Bisons took their first lead of the contest after McGinnis logged his second three-pointer of the game to give the Bisons an 11-9 cushion. Wichita State brought things tied with a pair of jumpers, but the Bisons equalized at 13-13 with a jumper inside the arc from
Dylan Faulkner.
From there on, the Shockers put together a 15-2 run with a series of made field goals from Wichita State and a run of missed shots from the Bisons. Lipscomb's squad broke their scoreless stretch with a pair of back-to-back three-pointers from
Owen McCormack.
The Shockers extended their lead to a 17-point gap with just over a minute and a half to go in the first frame before a free throw from
Grant Asman and a step-back three pointer from McGinnis brought the deficit to 13 heading into the break.
McGinnis hit yet another shot from deep just nineteen seconds back from deep to drop the difference down to ten as the second half got under way.
The Shockers then put together an 8-2 run to push the score to 54-38. Lipscomb's squad chipped away at the deficit with a 7-1 run of their own, highlighted by a pair of back-to-back shots from Boyd and a fast break layup from
Cody Head to bring the Bisons within nine points.
Both teams struggled to hit shots following the media timeout, but the Shockers recovered first and stunned the Bisons with nine unanswered points to go up 64-18 with less than ten minutes left on the clock.
Three-pointers from
TJ Johnson and
AJ McGinnis brought some life back into the Bisons' offensive efforts while Pruitt and McCormack brought the heat defensively, pulling down rebounds and helping the Bisons hold off the Shockers.
Wichita State's offense turned up the heat in the final four minutes, pushing to a 21-point lead that was cut down by a pair of layups from
Jason Montgomery and
Hank Hutcheson, but the Shockers defense held out and Wichita State's 76-59 lead held through the final buzzer.
HERD NOTES
- AJ McGinnis led the Bisons' scoring with 17 points after going 6-of-13 from the field and 5-of-9 from deep.
- Derrin Boyd put up 12 points for Lipscomb. He went 5-of-12 from the field and made one of his two free-throw attempts.
- TJ Johnson led the Purple and Gold from the free throw line, sinking both of the free throw attempts he put up in the contest.
- The Bisons combined for 37 three-point attempts, nearly three times the number of threes taken by the Shockers.
- Lipscomb pulled down 33 rebounds with a team-high six rebounds from Will Pruitt with one offensive and five defensive rebounds in the matchup.
UP NEXT
The Bisons will next head to Des Moines, Iowa to face off with the Drake Bulldogs on Wednesday, Nov. 8
th. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. CT.
