Lipscomb gives Louisville a scare before losing 72-68

Lipscomb kept Louisville on the ropes until the final four seconds Wednesday night before losing 72-68 at the KFC Yum! Center in front of a crowd of 14,197.

Matt Rose, who had hit a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to trim Louisville's lead to 34-33, hit another 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining to cut the Cardinals' advantage to 71-68.

Mailk Williams, a 52 percent free throw shooter on the season, iced it for the Louisville when he made one of two free throws at the end.

“It wasn’t our best performance by any stretch,” Lipscomb coach Casey Alexander. said. “Louisville had a lot to do with that obviously. To put ourselves into a position where we actually had a chance late, that shows a lot of grit and fight. I’m proud of our team for that.”

Garrison Mathews led Lipscomb with 20 points, including 14 in the second half.

Rob Marberry had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds even after picking up his third foul just 2:18 into the second half.

Louisville was led by Jordan Nwora with a career-high 22 points. Dwayne Sutton added a season-high 14 points and nine rebounds. 

"We guarded better toward the end of the game," Sutton told the Louisville Courier-Journal. "We knew they were fully capable of beating us if we weren't on our P’s and Q’s." 

The Bisons (7-3) had the game tied at 52-all with 9:23 to go and trailed by just one at 66-65 with 1:52 remaining.

Lipscomb's defense kept Louisville from ever getting into a grove. The Bisons forced 17 turnovers, including eight steals, while committing only 11. 

The Bisons socred 15 points off turnovers.

Lipscomb kept coming back

Junior Michael Buckland gave the Bisons their first lead of the game, 35-34, on the first play of the second half.

It was tied at 52-all when Louisville (7-3) pulled back in front 61-53 by going on a 9-1 run, which ended with a dunk followed by a 3-pointer by Nwora.

Mathews, who had struggled early, rallied Lipscomb at that point.

The Franklin native scored eight points over the next four minutes. It was Mathews' two free throws that trimmed Louisville's lead to 66-65.

”In the second half, I thought we were a little bit more like we’re supposed to look on offense," Alexander said. "Shots came more on-rhythm and guys made them. We haven’t been a good three-point shooting team, it’s important we take good ones.”

After Louisville went up 69-65 on a running bank shot by Christen Cunningham with 20.5 seconds left, Mathews was unable to handle a pass on the baseline from Kenny Cooper, which sailed out of bounds.

Louisville then went up 71-65 on a pair of free throws by Ryan McMahon with 10.3 remaining.

Still, Lipscomb got back into position at the end after Rose's 3-pointer to have a chance to win.

“It was a great response on the road,” Alexander said. “When they extended the margin like that in the second half, it showed a lot of character there for our guys."

"Even down to the end, we have a great possession to force a really tough shot, they get an offensive rebound and we fouled. Then on our end we had a chance to take the lead, we turned it over (on Cooper's pass to Mathews). Just ball handling, wasn’t anything they did on that one. It was a bad catch. Sometimes those things happen and it just happened at a really bad time.”

Lipscomb finished first half strong

Louisville threatened to pull away late in the first half. 

Nwora followed his third 3-pointer with a breakaway dunk that put the Cards up 29-21.

Louisville then went up 34-25 on a 3-pointer by Williams with 2:55 left in the first half.

“Early on I thought we missed some good looks,” Alexander said. “Then I thought we forced a lot of looks.

Lipscomb finally answered when Greg Jones came off the bench and made his first 3-pointer of the season. 

That sparked an 8-0 run for Lipscomb to end the half. 

Rose's 3-pointer at the buzzer trimmed Louisville's lead to 34-33.

Lipscomb held Louisville to just one field goal (Williams' 3-pointer) in the final 3:54 of the half.

Bisons took exams before leaving

Lipscomb did not spend much time in Louisville before the game. Several of the Bisons had to take their final exams earlier in the day.

Lipscomb boarded the bus at 12:30 p.m. and stopped on the way to eat lunch.

The Bisons arrived in Louisville about 90 minutes before the 6 p.m. tip-off

Mathews moves up scoring list

Mathews' first bucket was a 3-pointer four minutes into the game that moved him to ninth all-time on Lipscomb's career scoring list with 1,881 points. He passed Steve Flatt (1973-77). Mathews now has 1,898 points.

Up next

Lipscomb returns home for its final two games before Christmas. The Bisons host Covenant Monday at 6:30 p.m. and Vermont Dec. 21 at 7:15 p.m.

Kent State visits Louisville Saturday (3 p.m.).

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter