1. Garrison Matthews earned first team all-conference honors but had struggled shooting the ball over the past four games. Matthews shot only 37 percent from the field despite averaging nearly 16 points per game. Mathews got going early as he scored 8 of the Bisons first 11 points, including knocking down 2 of his first 3 three-point attempts.
2. Stetson switched to an active 2-3 zone with about 6 minutes left in the first. half. Lipscomb was able earlier in the half to shoot the Haters out of the same zone, but that wasn’t the case this time around as the Bisons settled for three’s and were unsuccessful missing four straight from long range and seven field goals in a row. During that stretch, LU went scoreless for 3:35, while Stetson went on a 12-0 run, cutting the lead down to 34-30 with 3:28 left in the first half.
3. Two key points in the first half came when point guard Kenny Cooper committed his second foul with 10:10 to play in the half. Then Mathews committed his second at the 5:31 mark of the half. When Cooper left the game, Lipscomb was up 23-15, when he returned, the Bisons led. 34-25. Lipscomb led 34-22 when he departed. During that stretch, Stetson went on a 22-9 run, trailing by one, 44-43, at the half, after trailing by as many as 16 in the half.
4. Aside from the foul trouble, another issue for Lipscomb in the first half was rebounding. The Haters outrebounded the Bisons 24-10, including grabbing 7 offensive. Stetson converted this to 11 second-chance points, compared to Lipscomb’s 2.
5. Bench play was a positive for the Bisons. Matt Rose came off the bench in the first half to hit 4 from 6 from deep, nearly half of the Bisons total from behind the arc in the half.
6. It was pretty clear what Lipscomb head coach Casey Alexander’s message was to his team at the half: Get the ball inside to Rob Marberry. After only four attempts in the first half, Marberry scored 6 of the Bisons first 10 points of the half, doubling his shots from the floor in the process.
7. Lipscomb controlled the second half from the start and never allowed Stetson to get back closer than 15 once they built their largest lead of 22. The Bisons outscored the Haters 45-30 in the half. Mathews scored 13 of his game-high 29 in the second half, connecting on all three of his four 3-point attempts. Lipscomb also turned around their rebounding fortunes, outrebounding Stetson 26-15 after halftime. The Bisons advance to the semifinals for the third consecutive year and will host third seed Jacksonville Thursday night at Allen Arena at 7:00 PM CT. The two teams split the regular season series with both winning at home by lopsided margins. Lipscomb lost in Jacksonville 87-69 while the Bisons won 82-59 in Nashville.
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