Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - - Behind balanced scoring and a strong finish, Belmont University men's basketball defeated Lipscomb, 81-71, Saturday night.
Playing without OVC Defensive Player of the Year and the nation's top rebounding point guard, Grayson Murphy, Belmont was undeterred.
"We had so many guys step up and answer the call," said Belmont head coach Casey Alexander. "It was a great team win, we had a lot of guys do a lot of great things. It was fun to watch."
The Bruins scored 14 of the first 18 points in leading wire-to-wire for the second consecutive game.
A fast offensive start from junior Caleb Hollander (Nashville, Tenn.) powered Belmont to a 29-15 lead midway through the first half.
But behind the play of Ahsan Asadullah and KJ Johnson, the Bisons clawed within 30-25 with 7:36 left in the half.
Sophomore Ben Sheppard (Atlanta, Ga.) punctuated a 9-0 Belmont run to increase the advantage to 14, 42-28.
A baseline 3-pointer from Romeao Ferguson closed first half scoring as the Bruins led 47-38 at halftime.
Belmont shot 56 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes, but 12 Lipscomb second chance points - largely from Asadullah - kept the hosts within reach.
Junior Luke Smith (Knoxville, Tenn.) opened the second half with a straight-on 3-pointer as the Bruins continued to exhibit free-flowing, unselfish offense.
Sophomore Mitch Listau (Waunakee, Wis.) provided a nice lift of the bench, as his short jumper helped Belmont maintain a 60-53 lead with 13:18 left.
Yet a Parker Hazen 3-pointer and an Asadullah basket capped a 12-2 Lipsomb run to close the Bruin lead to 60-58 with 11:49 remaining.
Determined drives from freshman JaCobi Wood (Cleveland, Tenn.) and Sheppard extended the margin back to six.
From there, consecutive 3-pointers from Smith helped Belmont maintain a working margin, which stretched to 72-63 with 5:30 left on two Sheppard free throws.
After Asadullah scored to get the Bisons within 74-71, junior Nick Muszynski (Pickerington, Ohio) answered with a right-handed hook to push the lead to five points with 2:39 left.
Following an exchange of defensive stops, Smith stole a Lipscomb outlet pass, raced into the frontcourt and found Sheppard for an explosive layin to make the score 78-71 with 1:39 remaining.
Belmont added three free throws in the final 57 seconds as the Bruins held Lipscomb scoreless the final 3:04.
"Our response was great after Lipscomb made its runs," Alexander added. "JaCobi coming in tonight and having eight assists and no turnovers was huge. Caleb scored and gave us big defensive rebounds. You could go right down the line. Ahsan (Asadullah) hurt us by getting his own misses in the first half, because our initial defense was really good. Just a great win from start to finish."
All told, Belmont shot 51 percent (32-for-63) from the field - including 11-for-26 from 3-point distance.
Belmont handed out 19 assists and scored 18 points off 12 Lipscomb turnovers.
Smith led five Bruins in double figures with 19 points and a season-high five steals. Hollander had 15 points and seven rebounds while Muszynski added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Wood contributed 11 points and eight assists. Sheppard had 10.
Asadullah led Lipscomb (2-5) with 29 points.
Belmont has won 16 of the last 18 meetings in the series, which dates back to 1953.
Belmont (5-1) returns to game action Wednesday, Dec. 16 vs. Kennesaw State.
Belmont University men's basketball has earned postseason invitations 14 of the last 15 seasons, including nine berths to the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins have won 19 conference championships since 2006 - third-most nationally over that span (Gonzaga, Kansas). Belmont is one of only six NCAA Division I programs outside the Power 5 to post Top 100 rankings 10 consecutive seasons (BYU, Gonzaga, Saint Mary's (CA), San Diego State, Wichita State). Belmont is one of only six NCAA Division I programs to win 19 or more games 15 consecutive seasons (Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan State, San Diego State). Belmont University men's basketball boasts an NCAA-leading 17 CoSIDA Academic All-America selections since 2001 and is the only NCAA Division I program to make the NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) Honor Roll every year of existence.
