The Lipscomb men’s basketball team fought a competitive, yet comfortable, decision against the Kentucky Christian University Knights 86-67 on Sunday afternoon.
After a home win against Division III Birmingham-Southern earlier this month, Lipscomb improved to 2-0 against non-NCAA opponents in Division I. The Knights are members of the NAIA’s Appalachian Athletic Conference.
Freshman striker Jacob Ognacevic attacked the bison offensively with 27 points in 27 minutes, went 9 of 15 off the field and made 7 of 8 free-throw attempts. A freshman Valparaiso transfer from Sheboygan, Wisconsin to Ognacevic added 8 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 assists for the Bisons. He led the team on both points and rebounds for the afternoon.
Alongside Ognacevic, junior guard Greg Jones made four 3-pointers en route to 17 points for Lipscomb and also added 5 rebounds.
Though Ahsan Asadullah, the junior center at 5. The Columbia City, Indiana-born forward contributed 6 of Lipscomb’s 12 points in the paint, ending up with 12 points and 5 rebounds.
“I’m satisfied with the team’s performance,” said Hazen. “Of course you look at a statistic like that, and there are a lot of basketball things, but one thing that you can’t put in a statistic is effort. That is what we will work towards; of course we play against a great team on Thursday and [again] On Sunday.”
Against Belmont and Chattanooga, both of which are high-level mid-major programs and rivals in the states, a key will be the effort the bison will test more than the NAIA side’s KCU.
“I thought we got off to a really good start in the first five minutes,” said assistant coach Tyler Murray. “We had a bit of a disappointment and could never really win back the start we had.”
In a sequel to a season-long storyline, losing the ball was the disappointment Lipscomb experienced as the game progressed. The bison coughed 14 times in possession, resulting in 24 points less sales for the Knights.
Despite losing the ball, Lipscomb led 41-33 behind 9 made 3 points at halftime. Across the board, the bisons shot 43.8% in the first half and expanded their 12-point lead at break.
Kentucky Christian stayed competitive through the second half, bringing the deficit to twelve several times early in the second half, but Ognacevic and Jones helped the Bisons with constant goals.
The second striker, Kaleb Coleman, who crossed the finish line from the bench with 13 points, also made for more strikers on the route. The runner-up from Orlando had only registered 1 minute of action to date, but was second on the team with 24 minutes against KCU, adding to his 13 points in 3-6 3-point shooting and a perfect 2-2 8 rebounds and 2 blocks mark from the charity strip.
“[Coleman] ascended today, ”said Hazen of his colleague. “I’m proud of him; he’s the type of guy who goes to the gym every day and works.”
“We have to keep improving and getting better in a few areas,” said Murray, “especially with the next four or five games coming up. We really have to lock ourselves up to give ourselves a chance in the next few weeks with the upcoming schedule we have. “
With the win, Lipscomb improves the season to 5-2. You will play against arch-rival Belmont on Thursday at the Curb Event Center on the Belmont campus, with the tip scheduled for 7 p.m.
This game will be broadcast live on The bison, Lipscombs radio station on campus.
Photo courtesy Lipscomb Athletics
