Final Score – Lipscomb: 96, Central Arkansas: 86
Location – Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Records – Lipscomb: 11-8 (2-2, ASUN), Central Arkansas: 7-13 (3-1, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Men's Basketball fell 96-86 to a red-hot shooting Central Arkansas team on Thursday evening to fall 2-2 in ASUN play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Action was back-and-forth early as the teams traded buckets from the opening whistle. Lipscomb got its first lead of the night when
Derrin Boyd nailed a triple at the top of the key for a 9-6 lead.
The lead, however, was short lived as Central Arkansas answered with a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock. After an empty possession, Lipscomb was behind 12-9 at the first media timeout.
Lipscomb pulled level, 14-14, but Central Arkansas was firing at an impressive clip from beyond the arc and nailed back-to-back three-pointers to pull ahead 20-14 at the second media timeout.
The Bisons began to struggle offensively, with no field goals for nearly three minutes, but
Will Pruitt broke the drought, getting the Bisons on the board with a much-needed bucket.
Lipscomb got some momentum when it got a defensive rebound and Boyd found
AJ McGinnis on the outlet pass for a one-handed jam, forcing a Central Arkansas timeout.
Out of the break, the Bears connected on its seventh triple of the night for a 10-point lead, stifling the Bisons' momentum.
With one of its best offensive halves of the season, Central Arkansas took a 52-40 lead into the halftime break. The Bears shot 65-percent from three and 58-percent from the floor. The Bisons were shooting 50-percent from the floor but just 33-percent from deep.
Out of the halftime break, the Bisons defense picked up and started to cause problems for the Bears.
Cody Head came off the bench and provided a spark. At the 16:58 mark of the second half, he converted a pair of free throws, getting the game back in single digits for the Bisons.
Heading into the under-16 media timeout, an 8-0 Lipscomb run had the Bisons back within a pair of possessions, 54-50 with 15:46 to play.
Lipscomb continued an extended 14-2 run over three and a half minutes to tie the game at 56 a piece with 13:43 left in the game.
Central Arkansas punched back with back-to-back triples to get back out to a six-point advantage, but the Bisons didn't go away.
The squads traded buckets for much of the next minutes, but the Bisons could never quite overcome the Bears lead as Central Arkansas held a 75-70 advantage at the under-eight media timeout.
Out of the timeout, McGinnis and Head made big back-to-back baskets, cutting the deficit to a pair, but, yet again, the Bears bounced back with a dagger three-pointer extending the lead back out.
The shootout continued as Head banged in a triple from the top of the key to excite the Lipscomb bench, but once again, the Bears answered with its 17
th triple of the night.
Head continued to be a spark, however, and drove the lane for another bucket, keeping Lipscomb behind just 83-80 before head coach
Lennie Acuff called a timeout with 4:46 left to play.
A 9-0 Central Arkansas run, however, saw the Bears get out to a 94-84 lead with 1:30 left to play. The deficit proved too much for the Bisons to overcome as Lipscomb fell 96-86 to Central Arkansas.
HERD NOTES
- Lipscomb shot 52-percent from the field and 35-perfent from three-point range.
- Central Arkansas shot 53-percent from the field and 61-percent from deep, connecting on 19 triples, a Central Arkansas program record.
- The Bisons committed five turnovers and forced 13 turnovers.
- Head led the Bisons with 20 points. Six Bisons were in double figures on the night.
- Pruitt and McCormack had five rebounds each.
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will face North Alabama at home on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 4 p.m. CT in Allen Arena.
