by Hunter Patterson | Feb 2, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
One of the more memorable games of Don Meyer’s tenure was the 1990 Battle of the Boulevard held in Memorial Gymnasium on Vanderbilt’s campus. Before I dive into the game, let’s take a look back at what Chip Johnson wrote in the Feb. 16th edition of the Babbler leading up to the game. “Ladies and Gentlemen, the number on team in the nation, The Lipscomb University Bisons.” The top ranked Bisons who now stand at 32-4 overall and 14-0 in the TCAC, face their toughest rival Saturday night in a game that is projected to break the attendance record for any NAIA game ever. Entering the game, the Bisons of Lipscomb University and the Rebels of Belmont College were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the TCAC and No. 1 and No. 9 in the nation. That year, the Bison had already played Belmont four times, going 3-1 in those contests. The Bisons were also riding a 15-game winning streak going into the biggest Battle of the Boulevard game in the rivalry’s history. During that streak, Marcus Bodie broke the NAIA record for most steals in a season. Jerry Meyer also broke the Lipscomb record for steals in a season. The span also allowed Hutcheson to work his way up to the number two and three spots on the all-time-scoring list. Everyone was getting up for this game – sports writers, students, die hard fans, casual fans…everyone. Also present was Rick Byrd’s red sweater vest. (Yes, he wore it in 1990, too.) Leading up to the game, the Babbler staff talked to some of those reporters and...
by Hunter Patterson | Feb 2, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The 1980s and 90s were years to remember for the Bisons. The team won its first NAIA National Championship in 1986 behind performances from the likes of Greg Caudle, Anthony Jones and Tom Kelsey. In 1990, the team played in front an NAIA record of 15,400+ at Memorial Gym. The Bisons won that game, too, 124-107 against Belmont. During that time, Lipscomb players also broke records. Philip Hutcheson broke the college basketball scoring record with 4,106 points, which stood until another Bison broke his record four years later. John Pierce, the only fitting successor to Hutch, broke his record four years later with 4230 points. Also, Jerry Meyer held the college basketball record for assists in a career. His teammate Darren Henrie holds the Lipscomb University record for most blocked shots with 273 career blocked shots, holds the university record for blocked shots in a season with 87, the record for dunks with 141 during his career as a Bison and the record for dunks in a single season with 61 dunks. Not to be outdone, Marcus Bodie is the all-time steals leader in college basketball with 440 over his career. Bodie averaged three steals per game over 148 games. After watching Darren Henrie come within 10 three-pointers of college basketball’s all-time record, Andy McQueen set his sights on taking care of some unfinished business. McQueen was deadly from behind the three-point line, hitting 112 as a freshman, 143 as a sophomore, 124 as a junior, and 136 his final season. McQueen would finish with 515 career three-pointers to break college basketball’s all-time record of 467 held by Bill...
by Hunter Patterson | Jan 30, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
In the last installment of the series we discussed Belmont’s winning streak that began in 1967. Today, we dive into the game that ended that streak. It was 1972 and the Rebels had dominated the Bisons for the last four years. Over those eight games the closest that Lipscomb came to beating the team down the road was in 1969 in a 61-59 game. 12/2/1967 at Belmont Belmont 102-86 1/20/1968 at Lipscomb Belmont 54-46 1/18/1969 at Lipscomb Belmont 61-59 2/15/1969 at Belmont Belmont 78-48 1/17/1970 at Belmont Belmont 95-81 1/31/1970 at Lipscomb Belmont 83-70 1/14/1971 at Lipscomb Belmont 96-88 2/11/1971 at Belmont Belmont 87-74 1/13/1972 at Belmont Lipscomb 88-86 Still, in true rivalry fashion, Belmont battled back tying the game with about three minutes to go. Lipscomb then tied the game with a jump shot and played tight defense on the way back down the floor. Lipscomb held on for the win and a streak their own.Lipscomb, then lead by coach Mike Clark, led by as many as 14 points in the game and led by 11 at halftime. The Bisons had the lead for 36 straight minutes after Belmont opened the scoring.But finally, on January 13, 1972, the Bison played a back and forth game versus the Rebels, but came out on top at the end. The streak lasted all of 25 days. Belmont beat Lipscomb in McQuiddy gym in a double overtime game that ended 79-76 in the Rebels favor. The following article was taken from the January edition of the 1972 Babbler. by Danny Dozier The Jan. 13 victory over arch rival Belmont college has...
by Hunter Patterson | Jan 29, 2012 | News Slider, Sports
The Bisons had gone winless in two tries before playing Belmont in the ’67-’68 season. Still, Lipscomb was averaging over 90 points a game and won the last four times when playing in Belmont’s gym. Moreover, the Rebels of Belmont had already upset a top-ranked Tennessee Wesleyan just in its first game. However, the Bisons coached by Guy Phillips, would not be able to beat Belmont that time around or the rest of the season for that matter. In the game at Belmont the Bisons lost 102-86 followed up by an uncharacteristically low scoring affair, a 54-46 loss at Lipscomb. There is no word if they were playing a half-court game during that second matchup. The loss at Belmont started the biggest win streak for the Rebels/Bruins during the entire 129 game series. During the first outing, both Coach Phillips and his team were very (overly) optimistic about their chances heading into what was then called a mere “cross-town rivalry” with no boulevard at stake. Take Eddie Montgomery (no, not the taller half of the country music duo Montgomery Gentry) went into the Belmont game thinking they could beat not only the Rebs but also any other team in the country. “We’ve got the offense to blow somebody out of the gym. Our fast-break is working like a charm, and we should be able to run Belmont to death.” The entire article from the December 1967 Babbler can be read below. By Byron Nelson Cross-town rivalry flares up again tomorrow afternoon as the Bisons invade Belmont to take on the Rebels in their Homecoming game at 2 p.m. Traditionally,...
