Box Score NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Adnan Hodzic and Michael Lusk combined for 31 points and a strong second half on both ends of the floor lifted Lipscomb to a 70-58 non-conference victory over Southeastern Louisiana Thursday night at Allen Arena.
Josh Slater added 11 points for Lipscomb (2-1), which shot 67 percent from the floor in the second half and outscored Southeastern (1-2), 42-29, in the final 20 minutes.
“This is what we will see in the Southland Conference when we play the likes of Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State,” Southeastern head coach
Jim Yarbrough said. “They (Lipscomb) controlled the tempo in the game. We knew it would be that way. We had our chances (to pull away) but we lost our composure.”
Southeastern led, 29-28, at halftime and built a 38-34 lead on Chris Cyprian's 3-pointer with 16:03 remaining in the game, but the Bison scored the next seven points as Brian Wright and Brandon Brown each scored on layups before Wright added a 3-pointer from the left corner for a 41-38 advantage.
Warrell Span added a short jumper to cut the lead to 41-40 and Jeremy Dunbar's 3-pointer gave the Lions a 43-41 lead, before the Bison tied the game on two free throws by Brown with 10:59 left.
Brown, who scored all seven of his points in the second half, gave Lipscomb the lead for good, 46-43, on a three-point play and pushed its lead to 58-48 on a pair of free throws by Jimmy Oden with 4:03 left.
Southeastern, which shot 52 percent in the first half before going 11-for-32 (34 percent) in the second half, closed to within 58-54 on two 3-pointers by
Kevyn Green, but the Bison pushed the lead to 64-54 with 1:29 left as Lusk scored on a driving layup, Hodzic hit a jumper in the paint and Lusk added two free throws.
Green led Southeastern with a season-high 26 points. Cyprian added seven with Span,
Patrick Sullivan and
Robert Tibbs adding six each for the Lions, who finished 23-for-55 (42 percent) from the floor and was outrebounded 41-20.
Southeastern returns to action on Tuesday when it plays at Big 12 member Texas Tech in a 7 p.m. contest.
SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA (1-2)
Green 9-16 4-5 26; Cyprian 3-8 0-1 7; Span 3-8 0-0 6; Sullivan 3-9 0-0 6; Tibbs 2-2 0-0 6; Fortenberry 2-6 0-2 4; Dunbar 1-5 0-0 3; Ndoumba 0-0 0-0 0; Patterson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 4-8 58.
LIPSCOMB (2-1)
Hodzic 8-14 0-0 16; Lusk 5-6 4-8 15; Slater 1-3 9-10 11; Teller 3-6 0-0 8; Brown 2-4 3-3 7; Wright 2-6 0-0 5; Pfaff 2-3 0-1 4; Oden 1-4 2-2 4; Burgason 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 24-48 18-24 70.
Halftime – SLU 29, Lipscomb 28. 3-point goals – SLU 8-22 (Green 4-7; Tibbs 2-2; Dunbar 1-4; Cyprian 1-5; Patterson 0-1; Fortenberry 0-3), Lipscomb 4-11 (Teller 2-4; Wright 1-3; Lusk 1-2; Burgason 0-2). Fouled out - None. Rebounds – SLU 20 (Span 6), Lipscomb 41 (Brown 10). Assists – SLU 10 (Fortenberry, Patterson 3), Lipscomb 12 (Lusk 4). Technical fouls – Tibbs. Total fouls – SLU 24, Lipscomb 16. A – 989.
