Jan. 29, 2006

Box Score

Seven is a lucky number, but it is taking more than luck for the Lipscomb Bisons basketball team to continue its success.

The Bisons won their seventh straight game of the season and moved into first place in the Atlantic Sun Conference with an 88-71 victory over Florida Atlantic Sunday afternoon at Allen Arena.

"This was a good team win," said Lipscomb coach Scott Sanderson. "We have to understand why we are doing what we are doing. It all comes back to September, October, November and December. It all comes back to the foundation that we have laid."

The Bisons are 13-6 overall, 9-2 in the A-Sun. Florida Atlantic fell to 9-10, 8-4 in the conference.

"We want to make sure we stay focused and humble while we are playing well," said Sanderson. "The biggest thing is to understand why we are playing well."

The Bisons allowed Florida Atlantic to lead in the game one time. DeAndre Rice scored on a 3-pointer at 13:46 to give Florida Atlantic a 9-7 lead. The last time the teams tied was 9-9 with 13:01 left to play in the first half when Lipscomb center Shaun Durant scored on a lay-up.

A lay-up by Fisk gave the Bisons the lead back at 11-9 with 12:46 before intermission.

Once again, the perimeter game was big for the Bisons with guards Brian Fisk and James Poindexter and forward Eddie Ard combining for nine 3-pointers. The Bisons were 11-of-20 for the game, 55 percent clip.

Defense was also a key for setting the tempo, holding Florida Atlantic to nine field goals in the first half.

"The first three halves we played them this season they have scored eight field goals and nine field goals and nine again in this game," said Sanderson. "I thought we came out and established ourselves defensively."

The Bisons never led by less than 10 points from the 9:18 point of the first half when they held a 23-14 advantage.

At halftime Lipscomb led 41-26, a scoring bulge they added to in the second half with 47 points. Florida Atlantic scored 45 second half points, but could not overcome the large scoring deficit they dealt with in the first half.

The Bisons largest lead was 23 points with 7:04 left in the game as Ard hit a pair of free throws for a 76-53 advantage.

In the final five minutes the closest Florida Atlantic would get to the lead was 18 points with 3:51 left when Rodney Webb hit a free throw for an 84-66 score.

Fisk led the Bisons in scoring with a game-high 28-points, three shy of his career high. Ard chipped in 18 points and Poindexter scored 15 points in 15 minutes.

"James came in there and gave us a spark and a lift," said Sanderson. "They had a hard time guarding his quickness. He played well for us, especially in the first half."

Fisk has led the Bisons in scoring in seven of the last 12 games. He has scored in double figures in the last 11 games.

"Brian is a complete player," said Sanderson. "People talk about Eddie Ard, but there is no question that the heartbeat of our team is Brian Fisk on both ends of the floor.

"He is a complete winner. Our guys feed off of him. He has been very, very good for the last month or so."

Durant grabbed a game-high seven rebounds. Guard Trey Williams made a game-high six assists and also was credited with three steals.

Florida Atlantic placed four players in double figures with Rice scoring 17 followed by Quinton Young with 15, Carlos Monroe with 12 and Webb with 11.

The Bisons turned the ball over 14 times. Florida Atlantic committed 19 turnovers.

"The last several games we have done a much better job of taking care of the ball," said Sanderson. "I told them that we work so hard in defending people that turnovers crush you. If we let our defense get set and get back in transition we are a difficult team to score on."

The Bisons take the short trip to Belmont Tuesday night for round two of the "Battle of the Boulevard" at 6 p.m. The game will be televised live on CSS.

"We need to get some rest," said Sanderson. "We talked about the four games with Belmont and Floriida Atlantic in row. We figured these games would separate us or bunch us together. Belmont will be waiting for us. We are hoping to have a great crowd at Belmont Tuesday."