Final Score – Lipscomb: 111, North Florida: 114
Location – Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Records – Lipscomb: 16-12 (8-7, ASUN), North Florida: 12-15 (7-7, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Men's Basketball dropped a heartbreaking 114-111 decision to North Florida Thursday night in Allen Arena.
Derrin Boyd scored a career-high 24 points while Jacob Ogancevic scored 27.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bisons got out to a hot start after
AJ McGinnis won the tip and
Derrin Boyd sprinted ahead for a quick layup. The Bisons then forced a shot clock violation on North Florida.
Ahsan Asadullah kept the momentum going with an easy bucket at the rim.
Lipscomb continued to clique on all ends with a couple steal and scores. McGinnis nailed a triple at the top of the arc, giving the Bisons a 14-4 lead, forcing an early North Florida timeout.
Out of the timeout, McGinnis stayed hot with another triple, extending the lead 17-4 just before the first media timeout.
After a 15-2 run, the Ospreys finally got back on the board with a pair of triples, cutting the Lipscomb lead 19-10.
North Florida continued to stay close with the help of another couple of three balls, but the Bisons continued to hold onto a 21-16 advantage. North Florida cut the Lipscomb lead to two points with 11:00 remaining (23-11).
Lipscomb's offensive struggles continued and North Florida took advantage, taking the lead, 25-23, with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Trae Benham got the Bisons back on the board with back-to-back triples, pushing the Bisons back ahead 29-25.
The squads traded buckets, but the offense was running through Benham as he caught fire from behind the arc. With two minutes left in the first half, Benham had connected on six-of-eight three-pointers, tying a career-high for triples made in a game.
North Florida continued to edge the Bisons in the final minutes of the half. Boyd hit a floater with eight seconds left, but North Florida hit a three at the halftime buzzer for a 52-45 lead at halftime. The Ospreys were shooting at a 67-percent clip from the floor and a 56-percent clip from deep at the break.
The Bisons began to shave the North Florida lead out of the halftime break and used an 8-0 run, capped off by a pair of Boyd free throws to cut the UNF lead to a point (61-60).
Every time the Bisons closed in, North Florida found a big shot and kept the lead. At the under-12 media timeout, North Florida held a 71-67 lead.
Out of the timeout, the Bisons went on a 5-2 run to get back within a point after a
Will Pruitt triple, but the Ospreys hit yet another three on its end to re-extend the lead.
Lipscomb never went away though and continued to battle. With just over three minutes left in the second half, Boyd cashed in after an offensive rebound with a triple to pull back within a point, 86-85 to force a UNF timeout.
The Bisons retook an 87-86 lead when Pruitt forced a steal on the inbound and connected on both free throws after he was fouled on a layup.
Pruitt continued to be clutch for the Bisons with a huge triple, giving the squad a 92-88 lead.
McGinnis continued the Lipscomb momentum when he got a steal on the defensive end and connected on a dunk.
Lipscomb had the ball with 50 on the clock, but couldn't convert and the Ospreys tied the game at 92 with 37 seconds left on the clock.
The Bisons missed a shot at the end of the shot clock which gave North Florida the ball with 7.2 seconds on the clock.
North Florida inbounded the ball, but were fouled with 0.9 left on the clock, giving them an inbound in its half of the court.
Will Pruitt forced a turnover on the inbound which gave the Bisons the inbound with 0.6 left on the clock.
At the end of regulation, the game was tied at 92, so the game would head to overtime.
North Florida scored the first basket of overtime, but Ognacevic scored a couple of quick buckets to put Lipscomb ahead and put him at the 1,000-point mark for his career.
Lipscomb was ahead by three with 59 seconds to go, but North Florida tied it back up with a triple.
Lipscomb had the ball and missed a triple, but got the offensive rebound with 30 seconds left on the clock. North Florida, however kept the Bisons off the board by forcing a shot clock violation and got the ball back with 11.2 seconds left on the clock.
The Bisons, however, picked up impressive defense of its own on the inbound and North Florida lost the ball out of bounds under the basket with 2.6 left in regulation.
One overtime period wasn't enough, and the game would head to a second overtime tied at 102 each.
After trading buckets in the second overtime, North Florida held a 109-107 lead, but with 41 seconds left, Pruitt was fouled shooting a three-pointer and connected on all three of his free throws for a 110-109 Lipscomb advantage.
North Florida scored a quick bucket once it broke the full court press for a 111-110 lead. Pruitt once again got fouled after he collected an offensive bucket and headed to the line for two shots. He connected on the first and the game was tied at 111. North Florida made a triple with four seconds on the clock for a 114-111 lead.
Lipscomb drew up one final play after a timeout with 3.7 on the clock, but was unable to convert and dropped a heartbreaking 114-111 decision.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will return to Allen Arena for its final regular season game at home. Tipoff on Saturday, Feb. 18 is set for 7 p.m. against Jacksonville.
