Final Score – Lipscomb: 81, Bellarmine: 71
Location – Allen Arena (Nashville, Tenn.)
Records – Lipscomb: 11-7 (4-1, ASUN), Bellarmine: 6-11 (1-4, ASUN)
THE SHORT STORY
A red-hot first half propelled Lipscomb to an 81-71 victory over Bellarmine on Thursday night behind a 27-point performance from
Ethan Duncan.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Lipscomb won the tip and wasted little time taking the lead. Lipscomb got out to an early 9-2 advantage when
Charlie Williams nailed a corner triple, and the score would hold to the first media timeout.
The Bisons continued to play connected out of the timeout, increasing their lead 19-8 after
Kennedy Okpara skied for an alley-oop from
Mateo Esmeraldo.
Lipscomb would go on to increase its lead 24-10 at the under-12 media timeout.
Ethan Duncan caught absolute fire from beyond the arc, with seven three-pointers in the first 16 minutes of the game. He led Lipscomb to a 40-16 advantage at the final media timeout of the half.
Lipscomb continued to control in the final minutes, taking a 49-27 lead into the halftime break.
The Bisons were disjointed out of the half, not scoring for the first three minutes.
Charlie Williams finally broke the slump with a triple, but Bellarmine inched closer, cutting Lipscomb lead 52-34 with 17 minutes left to play.
Bellarmine's defense continued to give the Bisons trouble early in the second half, but Lipscomb stayed the course and continued to lead 60-42 at the under-12 media timeout.
The Knights continued to outpace the Bisons in the second half, in a chaotic frame with little game flow, and led 65-51 with 7:31 to play.
Bellarmine continued to shave down Lipscomb lead, getting its deficit to just 69-58 with the help of a pair of technical free throws and another pair from the charity stripe.
The Knights got the Lipscomb lead to single digits with just over two minutes to play.
With a minute and a half to play, Bellarmine began to intentionally foul the Bisons, down by eight. Despite struggling from the line for most of the game, the Bisons were solid from the charity stripe down the stretch.
Despite a slow second half, Lipscomb defeated Bellarmine 81-71 to improve to 4-1 in ASUN play.
HERD NOTES
- Duncan led all scorers with a season high 27 points
- Asman scored 17 points and added eight rebounds
- Lipscomb shot 49% to Bellarmine's 37% from the field
- The Bisons won the rebounding battle 45-34
UP NEXT
Lipscomb will return to Allen Arena to host in-state rival, Austin Peay on Saturday, Jan. 17. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. CT.
