Final Score: Lipscomb: 81, Queens: 75
Location: Nashville, Tenn. (Allen Arena)
Records: Lipscomb: 24-9 (14-4, ASUN), Queens: 19-14 (11-7, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Men's Basketball played a thrilling ASUN Semifinal matchup on Thursday night, defeating Queens 81-75 in overtime.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game got off to a disjointed start with a pair of turnovers, but Queens settled in and got out to a 9-4 advantage at the first media timeout of the game.
Out of the timeout, Queens scored six-unanswered to force a Lipscomb timeout.
Joe Anderson broke Lipscomb's scoring drought out of the timeout with back-to-back triples to give Lipscomb the momentum. The Bisons continued on an 8-0 run out of the timeout to get within a possession, 15-12, before the second media timeout.
Anderson continued to stay hot with yet another triple as the Bisons trailed 19-15 at the under-eight media timeout of the second half.
The squads battled back-and-forth for the next several minutes as Queens continued to hold onto a 26-22 advantage at the final media break of the half.
The battle continued, and Anderson got a steal and a bucket to tie the game at 26 each with two and a half minutes to play.
Out of the timeout, Lipscomb got out to its first lead of the night, 32-31, thanks to buckets from
Charlie Williams and
Jacob Ognacevic with 58.9 seconds left in the frame.
Before the half, Queens scored again, but
Miles White earned a pair of free throws at the halftime buzzer and nailed both to give Lipscomb a hard-fought 34-33 advantage at the half.
The intensity remained high through the opening minutes of the second half, but Lipscomb remained ahead by a slight 38-37 at the first media timeout of the frame.
Queens, however, retook control with a 9-0 run just before the under-12 for a 49-42 advantage.
Lipscomb got back within four, but another Queens run saw the Royals get out to a 57-47 advantage with 7:42 left to play.
Out of the timeout,
Gyasi Powell and Ognacevic hit a pair of triples and Pruitt converted a pair from the line to get back within 57-55 with 5:40 left to play.
Lipscomb's crowd gave the Bisons life as Lipscomb trailed just 61-59 at the under-four media timeout.
Out of the break, Williams converted a pair from the charity stripe to make it a 61-61 game. The game continued to be tight down the stretch as Ognacevic drained two free throws with 1:09 to put Lipscomb ahead 65-64.
A Queens traditional three-point play gave the Royals back a 67-65 advantage with 42.6 seconds left.
Ognacevic came down the floor and got a layup to go that tied the game 67-67 with 25 seconds to go. Queens had two shots, but missed both as the game was tied at 67 to head into overtime.
Overtime started much like regulation, with back-and-forth action. Tied at 72-72 with 2:15 to play, Anderson hit a pull-up jumper from the free throw line to put Lipscomb ahead 74-72 to force a Queens timeout.
The Royals tied it up at 74, but it was all Lipscomb heading forward.
Charlie Williams nailed a pair of free throws for a 76-74 advantage and a Bisons' stop forced Queens to foul down the stretch.
The Bisons converted from the line down the stretch to see out an 81-75 thrilling victory to earn a spot in the ASUN Championship final.
HERD NOTES
- Ognacevic ended the night with 21 points and 12 boards
- Anderson led all scorers with 25 points
- Williams and Pruitt also had double digits with 16 and 12 points, respectively
- Lipscomb shot 49-percent from the field and 36-percent from three
- The squads were tied with 35 rebounds each
UP NEXT
No. 1 Lipscomb will host No. 2 North Alabama on Sunday afternoon for the ASUN Championship. The game will be at 1 p.m. CT in Allen Arena and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
