Final Score – Lipscomb: 84, FGCU: 77
Location – Alico Arena (Fort Myers, Fla.)
Records – Lipscomb: 10-7 (3-1, ASUN), FGCU: 7-10 (1-3, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
Lipscomb Men's Basketball got back in the win column on Saturday with an 84-77 victory at FGCU, behind
Charlie Williams' career-high 27-point performance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Charlie Williams got Lipscomb out to a good start with a pair of early buckets for a 5-0 lead after the Bisons' first three possessions.
Grant Asman kept Lipscomb's good start going with the second triple of the afternoon, giving the Bisons an 8-2 advantage.
FGCU scored four unanswered before the first media timeout, to cut into the Lipscomb lead 8-6 at the break.
Lipscomb hit a scoring lull of over five minutes, which allowed FGCU to take a 10-8 advantage with 13 minutes left to play in the half.
Titas Sargiunas stopped the drought with a triple that gave the Bisons back a narrow 11-10 lead.
The back-and-forth action continued, but Lipscomb's three-point shooting kept the Bisons narrowly in front. The pace picked up with no stoppage for several minutes, but
Mateo Esmeraldo finished at the rim for a 23-20 advantage as FGCU called a timeout with 6:16 left in the frame.
Out of the timeout, Lipscomb went scoreless until the next media timeout, but its defense also held strong to keep FGCU from doing much damage. The Eagles led 24-23 at the final media break in the second half.
The battle continued down the stretch as Lipscomb narrowly trailed 30-28 at the half.
FGCU tried to pull away in the early minutes of the second half, getting out to a 37-30 lead, but back-to-back triples from Sargiunas got Lipscomb right back in things.
Sargiunas hit another three-pointer in transition, but FGCU continued to answer as Lipscomb trailed 48-45 at the first media timeout of the second frame.
Out of the timeout, Lipscomb forced two quick Eagles turnovers and capitalized on a
Ross Candelino corner three and a pair from the charity stripe to retake a 50-49 advantage with 11:53 left to play.
After a few back-and-forth possessions, Lipscomb mounted a 6-0 run over a minute and a half, opening up a 59-54 advantage to force an FGCU timeout with 9:08 left to play.
Lipscomb got out to as much as a seven-point lead, but never could quite pull away, and FGCU continued to hang around.
Sargiunas stayed red-hot, making his sixth trey of the night for a 69-62 advantage with five minutes to play.
Grant Asman gave Lipscomb its largest lead of the night, 72-65, when he nailed another Lipscomb triple just thirty seconds later.
Just before the final media timeout, Lipscomb forced an FGCU turnover to get the ball back out of the break, still leading 74-65 with 3:58 to play.
The teams traded buckets over the next minute of play as Lipscomb led 76-69, and the Eagles called a timeout with 2:45 to play.
FGCU picked up a full-court press that gave Lipscomb some trouble out of the break, forcing a couple of turnovers, but FGCU was unable to capitalize with any points off those turnovers.
In the final minute of play, FGCU forced a couple of tough shots that the Bisons were unable to convert, and pulled within a possession, 78-75, with 30.8 seconds to go. FGCU called a timeout, and Lipscomb would have the ball out of the break, with a .8 differential on the game and shot clock.
On the ensuing inbound, the Bisons were facing a trap in the corner, and called its final timeout with 27.7 left on the clock.
On the next possession, Lipscomb cleanly inbounded the ball, and Williams was fouled. He made both free throws to put Lipscomb ahead by five.
A foul was called as FGCU brought the ball up the court with 21 seconds to play. FGCU made both free throws to stay in striking distance. On the next inbounds, Williams was yet again fouled and made both for an 82-77 lead and a new career high.
The Bisons forced a tough shot on the next FGCU possession and secured the rebound with seven seconds to play. Williams scored another pair to ice the game and secure the 84-77 victory.
HERD NOTES
- Williams led all scorers with a career-high 27 points and poured in a team-high seven rebounds
- Other double-digit scorers included Sargiunas (19), Asman (14) and Duncan (13)
- Esmeraldo had 11 assists on the night
- The Bisons shot 47% to FGCU's 51%, but outshot the Eagles 52%-29% from deep
UP NEXT
The Bisons will return to Nashville to welcome Bellarmine on Thursday, January 15. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CT in Allen Arena.
