Men's hoops advances to first ASUN title game in 12 years

Lipscomb Athletics | 03/01/2018

For the first time in 12 years, the Lipscomb men’s basketball squad is headed to the ASUN championship final.

After falling in the semifinals in each of the past three seasons, the Bisons (22-9) finally notched a seminal victory as they defeated Jacksonville 77-62 in Allen Arena on Thursday night.  

ASUN All-Conference First-Teamers Garrison Mathews and Rob Marberry once again led the way for Lipscomb. The juniors scored 23 and 12 points, respectively.

Mathews added five rebounds and four assists, while Marberry notched three of each.

Lipscomb started out with an early lead and never looked back, never trailing the Dolphins.

Junior Eli Pepper energized the team and the crowd with a monstrous dunk to put the Bisons ahead 30-13 with just under four minutes to go in the first half. Pepper nearly grabbed a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds.

Junior Matt Rose added 11 points, while sophomore Kenny Cooper scored 10 points and swiped five steals, tying his career high.

Cody Helgeland paced the Dolphins with 24 points, while Jalyn Hinton had 12.

Check back later for a full recap of the game, including thoughts from head coach Casey Alexander.

UP NEXT: Lipscomb will be heading down to Fort Myers, Florida for the ASUN Championship game against FGCU. The final will take place on Sunday at 2 p.m. CST, and will be broadcast on ESPN.