NASHSVILLE, Tenn.—A hot-shooting first half by the host Lipscomb Bisons provided a double-digit halftime lead over the visiting Bellarmine Knights, and the home team repelled a BU comeback attempt to claim a 69-49 victory at Allen Arena in an ASUN Conference matchup on Saturday.
 
The Bisons (13-8, 5-3 ASUN) owned a huge 33-6 advantage from the 3-point line as the Knights struggled from the outside, making just two of 27 attempts from beyond the arc. Lipscomb, meanwhile, attempted the same number of triples, but connected on 11 of them.
 
Shooting just shy of 54 percent in the first half and heating up at opportune times from the 3-point line, the Bisons ran out to a 35-22 advantage at the break.  In the second half, Bellarmine made several runs at the Bisons, trimming the deficit to six at one point, but Lipscomb answered every run by hitting crucial shots. Coming down the stretch, the Knights were forced to foul, and the Bisons were able to extend the margin to 20 at the final horn.
 
"Our goal at halftime was to play the first four minutes of the second half like the score was tied," said Bellarmine Coach Scott Davenport. "We win that (first) war, and (I think) okay here we go. We get it to 43-36, and we miss an incredibly great inside-out look that would have cut it to four points. They hit back-to-back threes and instead of four, the game goes to 13 and essentially the game is over."
 
Both teams had balanced scoring with four Bisons reaching double digits. Tommy Burr came off the Lipscomb bench to lead all scorers with 14.  In fact, three of LU's four leading scorers came off the bench as the Bisons owned a 47-4 advantage in bench points.
 
Bellarmine was paced by 13 points from redshirt freshman Ben Johnson, who got the start in place of Peter Suder, who was sidelined due to an injury sustained in BU's victory at Austin Peay on Thursday. Juston Betz and Alec Pfriem tossed in 10 points apiece for the Knights with Betz leading the BU rebounding effort with seven while Pfriem led the way with five assists.
 
Davenport spoke to playing with a short roster.  "We're down to eight (players)…and that's difficult, but you couldn't ask them to fight any harder than they fought today, not one bit.  If that shot goes in and (the lead) is four--we've got three timeouts left; they've got three timeouts left--that thing's going to go down to the last two minutes."
 
Lipscomb's shooting cooled a bit in the second half, but the home team still managed to outshoot Bellarmine 48.1 percent to 34.4 percent. The Bisons also were plus-six on the backboards, but the Knights cashed in on their offensive rebounds, outscoring LU 16-2 in second chance points.
 
Bellarmine, which suffered its first ASUN road loss of the season, falls to 9-12 overall and sees its league record draw even at 4-4.
 
The Knights return to action on Thursday when they host Eastern Kentucky at 6:30 p.m. at Freedom Hall.