Looking to build on Thursday night’s win over the University of Jacksonville, the men’s basketball team turned in a valiant effort at home Saturday night against the University of North Florida Ospreys (13-18, 8-10 in conference), but effort wasn’t enough to take the win.

The team fell to the visitors 85-78 in a game that solidified the Bisons’ bracket seating for the Atlantic-Sun tournament.

After a strong start by Lipscomb (leading by six at 14:55), North Florida fought their way back to make it a close first half. That is, until the last three minutes, where the Bisons went on a run, widening the margin to seven at the half.

The second half saw more strong play from Lipscomb, holding a 10-point lead with a little more than 10 remaining. Unfortunately, the Ospreys once again chipped away at the lead, eventually taking the top score at 3:30. After this, the game became a back-and-forth of jumpers, layups and free-throws, with the Ospreys hitting key shots at moments, and the Bisons missing when it counted. North Florida walked away from Allen Arena with the win.

The Bisons end their regular season 12-17 (7-11 in the A-Sun).

Senior Deonte Alexander, who was honored at half court before the game for Senior Night, led the Bisons in scoring with 19, while redshirt sophomore Carter Sanderson added in 16 points.

Junior Khion Sankey led the team in rebounds with nine and had 12 points on the night.

Sankey said he felt that the team’s shooting percentage in the second half was a cause for trouble.

“I feel like we played hard. They just made a lot of baskets on offense in the second half. They went 72 percent,” Sankey said. “I don’t think you’re ever going to win a game like that if they’re shooting 72 percent and we’re shooting 29 percent. So, we’ve just got to get some more stops.”

Sankey also noted that the final margin was only in the single digits.

Heading into the conference tournament, Sankey said he was confident that the team could contend with whoever came their way.

“I feel like we can play with anybody when we get our mind right,” Sankey said. “If we play defense, it’s going to be a hard time to score on us. So, all we have to do is play defense, and we have a lot of confidence going in.”

The Bisons will travel to Macon, Ga., the home of the Mercer Bears, to take part as the no. 8 seed in the Atlantic-Sun tournament. Their game will tip off against the no. 1 seed Mercer at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 6.

Photo credit: Whitney Jarreld 

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