ASUN tournament preview: Lipscomb once again holds the No. 3 seed

ASUN tournament preview: Lipscomb once again holds the No. 3 seed

On March 3, 2020, the No. 3-seeded Lipscomb men’s basketball team beat No. 6 FGCU 68-63 off a 40-point effort from center Ahsan Asadullah. The game was played in Nashville less than 24 hours after a devastating tornado struck Middle Tennessee. So many things have changed since then, and I don’t even think I have to tell you what all of them are. But this year’s edition of the ASUN men’s basketball tournament will be single-city (as will the women’s), with teams participating on the campuses of Jacksonville University and North Florida, both located in Jacksonville. Much like last season, the Bisons (15-11, 9-6 ASUN) once again hold the three seed, with the Eagles (9-7, 4-5 ASUN) taking up the No. 6 spot. Neither team has played a full 16-game conference slate, although FGCU’s cancellation-littered schedule is more notable. The game is scheduled for Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT, to be played in Swisher Gymnasium at JU. Disappointment is really the first thing that comes to mind for how the Bisons’ season went. They were picked to win their conference (which could still happen in the tournament) but now sit behind Liberty and Division I newcomer Bellarmine. Inconsistent play and the inability to hold large leads have created headaches for this squad all season long. Redshirt junior Ahsan Asadullah is once again the leading scorer at 14.2 points per game, but he had a slow start to the season before putting up bigger numbers late. Grad transfer Romeao Ferguson adds 13.6 points per game at the shooting guard position, and sophomore guard KJ Johnson is the lone other...
Lipscomb softball evens ASUN record with 13-0 win over UNF

Lipscomb softball evens ASUN record with 13-0 win over UNF

Lipscomb’s softball team showcased its talents on the mound and over the plate in a 13-0 victory over UNF on Sunday to clinch the weekend series 2-1. The two teams split the doubleheader on Saturday, with UNF taking game one 8-6 and Lipscomb taking game two 3-1 thanks to a three-run homer from Jenna Pealor in the sixth inning. Lipscomb is now 23-12-1 (3-3 ASUN). North Florida drops to 20-12 (3-3 ASUN). Saturday’s second game marked the first win of the season from the mound for junior Chloe Yeager. “She’s finally back to old Chloe, which is huge,” Lipscomb coach Kristin Ryman said. She followed up the win on Saturday with another on Sunday in a standout performance where she gave up only one hit, walked only one batter and struck out three in the five innings available before the game was ended due to the run rule. The Lipscomb offense started off Sunday’s game strong and appeared to have solved the scoring issues it faced in Saturday’s second game. Hannah DeVault and Pealor shared 5 RBIs in the first two innings, with a sixth coming from Sarah Higgins. “We just really attacked the ball and attacked good pitches from the get-go today,” Ryman said. “We created a little bit of havoc today on the bases, too, with quite a few stolen bases and were able to get a lot of runners in scoring position for those girls in the middle of the order.” The Bisons followed up two strong innings with seven more runs in the third. Although the big hits from DeVault and Pealor put the runs...

Lipscomb baseball drops first home series since 2013

Despite defeating the No. 1 team in the nation last week, the Lipscomb baseball team came up short losing the series to the University of North Florida this weekend at Ken Dugan Field at Stephen L. Marsh Stadium. The Bisons lost the first game of the series 4-3. They took the second game 11-3, but lost the final game Sunday 8-0. “I have to give credit to North Florida as they showed all weekend that they could hit,” head coach Jeff Forehand said. “They made it very difficult for us and in the end we didn’t get the job done.” Forehand went on to talk about the outstanding pitching performance by UNF. “When a team pitches that well and makes great runs it’s difficult to get into the game. If we don’t get a run through, we can’t really play the game.” This is the first home series Lipscomb has dropped since the weekend of April 26, 2013 when Stetson came in and took 2-of-3. North Florida senior Trent Higginbothem, gave the Ospreys the initial lead hitting his sixth home run of the year, a two-run shot in the third inning. UNF pitcher Matt Vaka allowed only a couple of hits and three walks in five innings, in the final stage of the series. Throughout the whole afternoon, Vaka only allowed three runners to move into scoring position, which lowered his ERA to 1.72 for the season. The only chance the Bisons gave themselves to score was in the sixth inning when Josh Lee lead by drawing a one-out walk to give Lipscomb a scoring opportunity. Following the walk, Allan Hooker almost tied it...

Men’s and women’s tennis fall short in opening conference matches

While most Lipscomb students were on spring break, the men’s and women’s tennis teams were hard at work starting Atlantic Sun Conference play. The men’s tennis team started off their spring break with a strong 6-1 win over the University of North Alabama on March 18 at home. The Bisons won two of the three doubles matches to get the winning point, and in singles action, the Bisons dominated. Sophomore Rob Mitchell, freshman Alejandro Manzanares, freshman Philippe Courteau, junior John Tougher and freshman Thais Minet all won their singles matches outright. Following the dominating performance over North Alabama, the Bisons looked to take the momentum into their first conference match against the University of North Florida on March 19. However, the men fell short in their first conference outing. The men lost 4-1 with the only singles victory coming from Mitchell, and the team did not win a doubles point. While the men were busy with their week, the women’s team was just as hard at work. The women started off the week on March 17 against Western Kentucky hoping to get a win before conference play, but the team fell short, losing 4-3. The Lady Bisons hoped to make a quick turnaround from the loss when they also took on UNF at home on March 19, but they fell 4-0 to the Ospreys. Freshman Hannah Gamage and junior Danielle Kinnen won the only point for the Lady Bisons. The duo won their doubles match 8-0, and the Lady Bisons did not win a singles point. Both the men and women are back in action on Saturday, March 21. The women travel to...

Bisons struggle during second half in loss to North Florida

It was Star Wars night Saturday in Allen Arena, but the Force was not with the Bisons. Lipscomb lost 75-66 to North Florida, with first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference on the line. This game brought in over 3,000 fans — one of the largest crowds of the season. The Bisons entered the first half strong, with forward Malcolm Smith scoring the first goal of the game. The Bisons ended the first half with a 29-19 lead. “The first 20 minutes are easily the best 20 minutes we’ve played all year on both ends of the floor,” head coach Casey Alexander said. “We made very few mistakes in the first half.” In the second half, North Florida led by 13 points, sparked by 24 from Beau Beech in the second half. Beech led all scorers with 27 points. The Bisons did not go down easily, cutting the UNF lead to single figures. Guard Josh Williams led the team with 21 points. He has double figures in 21 of his last 22 games. “Josh is playing so hard,” Alexander said. “He wants the ball. He wants to be the guy and deliver.” Also in double figures for the Bisons were Smith with 13, followed by guard J.C. Hampton with 12 and forward Talbott Denny with 11. The men’s basketball team was 0-4 in the Atlantic Sun Conference at the beginning of the 2013-2014 season, but this year the team is 4-1 — the best conference start in the history of the program. “Nobody’s happy about the result by any stretch, but this loss is better than several of the wins we’ve...