Bisons win share of Atlantic Sun Championship and No. 1 seed
Lipscomb Athletics |
The Lipscomb Bisons won a share of the regular season Atlantic Sun Championship with a 85-73 win over Mercer, a highlight of homecoming weekend.
The Bisons went into the game knowing that ETSU had beaten Jacksonville 64-62 earlier in the day. The Bisons, 14-6 in the conference, tied with Jacksonville for the regular season title. Campbell and Belmont could also earn a share as well before the day is over.
The win completed a sweep of Mercer. The Bisons beat them 98-89 to open the A-Sun portion of the season on Dec. 3.
The Bisons have all of the tie breakers in their favor. They enter the Atlantic Sun Tournament Wednesday in Macon, Ga. They will play Kennesaw State, the No. 8 seed, at 1:30 p.m.
This is the second time the Bisons have won the regular season Atlantic Sun Championship. The first was in 2006.
The Bisons were predicted to tie with Jacksonville for the regular season championship by the conference coaches in the preseason poll,
Junior center Adnan Hodzic led all scorers with a career-high 37 points. It is the 56th straight game that Hodzic has scored in double figures. Hodzic also grabbed 17 rebounds, the 10th time this season and the second game in a row that he has recorded a double-double.
Also in double figures for the Bisons were forward Jordan Burgason with 17, guard Josh Slater with 12 and forward Brandon Brown with 11.
The Bisons were down at four at the half, 36-32. It was hard luck first 20 minutes as few things went in the Bisons favor.
They persevered, taking a five-point lead early in the second half at 40-36 with 18:45 left in the game on a 3-point shot by forward Jordan Burgason.
The game was a dogfight for most of the second half. The Bisons took the lead at 37-36 in the second half with 19:18 on the clock as Hodzic connected on a jumper in the lane.
With 11:41 to play Hodzic scored on a layup to give the Bisons a 53-47 lead. That six-point advantage was the biggest for any team in the second half to that point.
After Mercer cut the lead to four, the Bisons went on a 14-2 scoring run. Hodzic hit another layup and another free throw, forward Michael Teller sinking three free throws in a row and Burgason’s jumper at 9:26 for a 61-49 Bisons advantage.
In the final 9:30 minutes the Bisons led by double figures with the exception of the 5:54 mark when Brandon Moore hit a free throw for Mercer to trim the lead to 66-57.
The Bisons are 16-12, 13-6 in the A-Sun. Mercer is 14-15, 10-9 in the A-Sun.