NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jacksonville never trailed in regulation, but was unable to come away with a win at Atlantic Sun leading Lipscomb on Thursday as the Bisons snuck by the Dolphins 80-77 in double overtime.
Lipscomb, which improved to 4-0 in league play, out scored Jacksonville (7-14; 1-3 A-Sun) 14-11 in the decisive overtime period with nine points from the foul line.
Andris Misters (22) and Kori Babineax (21) and Josh Adeyeye (20) all had over 20 points for the Dolphins which held a 14 point, 35-21 lead at halftime. In the first half, Jacksonville held Lipscomb to 34 percent shooting. A 12-3 run to close the half was fueled by five points from Misters and a three-pointer from Marcel White.
"Proud of the way our guys came out ready to play tonight," said Head Coach Tony Jasick. "We’re making progress in our process. I wish it wasn’t such a process, but we are improving. We battled tonight and have to continue to get better."
The Bisons caught fire in the second half shooting 64 percent from the field. A 14-1 run cut the Jacksonville lead to a single point with 12:33 remaining in regulation. The Dolphins pushed the lead back to seven just two minutes later after Adeyeye hit back-to-back three pointers. Adeyeye connected on six three pointers for the game in his first start since Dec. 14 at Florida.
Lipscomb would slowly chip away at the deficit before Aaron Korn tied the game with a three-pointer at 1:23. A Dolphins turnover on an offensive foul and a missed jumper by the Bisions in the final seconds forced the first extra session.
Jacksonville trailed by three in the first overtime, but forced three straight turnovers to secure a three-point cushion and the ball with just over a minute left to go. The Dolphins came up empty on the possession despite getting a good look which allowed a three pointer by J.C. Hampton to tie the game once more at 52 seconds. Both teams had a chance to take the lead in the final 20 seconds but couldn’t get the shot to fall.
Hampton would hit another three-pointer after another key offensive foul call against the Dolphins. Jacksonville played catch up from there. Managing to close within three with the ball and 10 seconds remaining but a last second three-point attempt was off the mark.
"We did a poor job of defending in the second half," Jasick said. "Hampton started to get hot and we didn’t do a good job of finding him in our zone in the second half. Give them credit, they are a good team and fought back."
Hampton finished the night with 17 points and 10 assists.
The game marked the first double-overtime contest for Jacksonville since a Jan. 10, 2013 game against Kennesaw State went to triple overtime. It was also the first game against Lipscomb that went to overtime for the Dolphins.