The Lipscomb University Bisons trampled the UCA men’s basketball team in a 68-55 victory Jan. 25 in the Farris Center.
Freshman guard Layne Taylor did not play during the Jan. 25 game due to a shoulder injury. Taylor is the fourth member of the team sidelined due to injury this season.
UCA coach John Shulman said, “We’ve had really horrible luck with injuries. And now you take away our heart and soul of our team; our leading scorer. You take away that the day before we play the [second] best team in the league [conference]. We were a little rattled.”
Senior guard/forward Elias Cato scored 17 points for UCA, shooting 60% from the field. Freshman guard/forward Cole McCormick netted 13 points, shooting 33% from the 3-point line.
Sophomore guard Brayden Fagbemi bagged 12 points and hauled in 6 rebounds.
Together, the three earned over 75% of the points for the Bears (5-16, ASUN 1-7).
30 seconds in, Cato scored the first 2 points of the game, but the ball was quickly turned over to the Bisons (14-7, ASUN 6-2).
What followed was a string of missed shots and turnovers from both teams.
The Bisons took the lead and never looked back with a layup from senior guard Gyasi Powell two minutes later.
A third into the first half, freshman forward Nehemiah Turner cut the Bisons’ lead to 2 with a slam dunk.
However, after a layup from Lipscomb junior guard/forward Kellan Boylan, the Bisons extended their lead by 11.
The Bears clawed their way back to tie the game at 22 points with a 3-point shot from Fagbemi with four minutes left.
A minute later, UCA tied it up again at 25 points with a 3-pointer from McCormick.
Shulman felt that one of his team’s strengths in this game was its inbound play execution.
“One of my responsibilities is to know exactly how the guard and inbounds played. And everybody guards it different,” Shulman said. “So sometimes, you know, you got the magic. You know, I’ve written them all up in order exactly what we’re gonna do right here.”
The game’s momentum was halted in the second half by multiple fouls by the Bears.
Official reviews cost UCA’s team its rhythm, allowing the Bisons to charge ahead and take control of the rest of the game.
The reviews included a technical foul that resulted in the ejection of sophomore guard/forward Diogo Seixas midway through the second half.
Despite UCA’s loss and missing players, the team remains optimistic.
“We’re laying down a foundation that we can do some neat things here, so I’ve kind of changed my view of things. I just asked them in the locker room, without Ty [Robinson], without Layne [Taylor], without Tyler [Lee] and without Javion [Guy-King], do you have a chance to beat the best team in the league? Yes we did, and that’s a great thing,” Shulman said. “So let’s build on that and let’s improve a little bit here, a little bit there and get a little bit better. And let’s have some fun. It’s hard to beat relentless, but people are beating relentless right now. But we keep coming at you and keep coming at you. We’re going to get a break sometime.”
Shulman said he wants to focus the most on his players’ psyche, especially before their next game against the University of West Georgia.
“The plan is to work on our mental state because these are young kids that don’t feel great about themselves. To work on our mental state and to make one or two things improvements,” Shulman said.
The Bears will play the West Georgia Wolves at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29, at the Farris Center.