Jan. 31, 2008

After losing three straight Atlantic Sun games, the Bisons came into Thursday night's game aginst Florida Gulf Coast on a mission. The Bisons were solid in every phase of the game and finished their three game road swing with a 70-56 win over the Eagles. Lipscomb will now get to come home and play in Allen Arena for a three game stretch that includes games against Stetson, North Florida, and Jacksonville. The Bisons improve to 9-13 on the year and 3-5 in the Atlantic Sun. Florida Gulf Coast drops to 8-14 overall and 4-4 in the A-Sun.

"We got good looks at the basket. We had great spacing on the floor," said head coach Scott Sanderson. "Obviously we needed this win badly for our confidence standpoint."

The Bisons did not seem to lack confidence in the first half. They put together a 20-4 run that extended their lead to 26-10 at the 8:27 mark of the first half.

However, the Eagles would soar back with an 18-5 run of their own and cut the lead to three, 31-28. The last two minutes of the first half would belong to the Bisons. They scored five unanswered points to extend their half time lead to 8.

"I was more excited about them coming back and us not cracking. They cut it to 31-28, and we score the last five points of the half and go up eight points," said Sanderson.

One of the key aspects of the game was a change up in Lipscomb's starting rotation. Coach Sanderson decided to play four guards in the rotation, and it proved to be a wise decision.

"I just feel like we take care of the basketball a little bit better, and we are better up on the perimeter defensively."

Lipscomb shot 46.4% from the field in the first half and were 7-13 from behind the three point line (53.8%). Florida Gulf Coast shot 35.7 % from the field and 36.4 % from behind the three point line in the first half.

The Bisons came out strong in the second half to go on a 7-0 run and extend their lead to 43-28. Lipscomb would never look back as they went on to win the game 70-56.

Michael Lusk led all scorers with 16 points and was 4-5 from behind the three point line. Eddie Ard had his 10th consecutive double-figure scoring effort with a 14 point performance. He also passed Mark Campbell on Lipscomb's all-time scoring list to move up to number 16. He now has 1,519 total points in his career at Lipscomb. LaKory Daniels scored 14 points and had 4 assists. Freshman point guard Josh Slater led the Bisons by pulling down a career high 8 rebounds.

Landon Adler led the Eagles with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The Bisons improve to 9-13 overall and 3-5 in the A-Sun. Florida Gulf Coast drops to 8-14 on the year and 4-4 in the A-Sun.

Lipscomb's next action comes on Saturday when they take on the Hatters from Stetson at 4:15 CST in Allen Arena. Coverage of this game can be heard on 1200 AM as well as on Atlantic Sun Television.