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NASHVILLE (JaxSportsTicker) - Jacksonville University men's basketball fell on a buzzer-beater three-pointer to Lipscomb, 62-59, at Allen Arena on Saturday.
The Dolphins (13-14, 6-10) held the Bisons without a point for the final 5:38 of the game, until surrendering the banked in 25-footer as the horn sounded.JU used a strong shooting first half and an opportunistic defense to take an eight-point lead into the break. The two teams traded buckets early, with the game tied at 12 at the first media timeout. Mike Marsh hit a hook shot and Kevion Nolan swished a stepback three with 11:32 left in the half to give JU its first two possession lead of the night, 19-14.The lead great to nine when Marsh swished a baseline jumper and Gyasi Powell buried a three-pointer, with JU leading 25-16. Lipscomb cut it to one with 5:27 left in the half, but Marsh drew a foul and split two free throws, followed by Jarius Cook draining consecutive threes and Marsh hitting another shot to make it 36-26 with 3:02 left.The Bisons cut the deficit to five, before Powell hit another three just before the end of the half to push the score to 39-31.The second half started much differently. Lipscomb started aggressively double-teaming JU guards on the perimeter, and forced a called timeout just 30 seconds into the half. The defensive intensity paid off, as JU turned the ball over three times in the first two minutes of the half and Lipscomb erased the halftime deficit to go up one 2:24 into the second frame.Powell finally scored the first points of the half for the Dolphins nearly five minutes in on a three-pointer, but Lipscomb tied it and took the lead again a few minutes later. The deficit grew to as many as five, but the defense picked up and the offense took better care of the ball to keep the Bisons from ever pulling away.Nolan tied it at 50 with 9:50 left, and the two teams combined to score just 22 points the rest of the way. Nolan had a free throw line jumper and a driving layup to give JU a 54-53 lead, but a quick three on the other end flipped the lead again. It grew to five once more, but Marsh hit a tough turnaround with 5:05 left to cut it to three. That was the last field goal of the night for the Dolphins, however, getting three free throws to tie it, before Lipscomb hit the winning shot.