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After an encouraging start in the first round of the NCAA men's basketball tournament Friday, Lipscomb basketball's season came to a screeching halt when Iowa State flexed its muscle and blew past the Bisons 82-55 in the South Region at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
The No. 14 seed Bisons actually led early, but that was before No. 3 seed Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic started pushing around his smaller defenders on the way to a team-high 20-point game and before the Cyclones' defense began forcing Lipscomb into mistakes and miscues it hadn't made all season.
The Bisons simply could not match up against the 6-foot-8, 225 pound Momcilovic and company in the paint.
"Physically they were so much for us," Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. "They're one of the few teams that just pounds the ball inside. I mean they just really took advantage of us at the four and five (positions). We were fighting, but we just didn't really have an answer."
At one point Iowa State (25-9) led Lipscomb 26-0 in points in the paint. The Cyclones ended up with a 50-20 advantage in the paint. Lipscomb starting center Charlie Williams finished with three points and one rebound and his backup Grant Asman had two points and two rebounds.
Being outmanned in Lipscomb's first NCAA tournament appearance in seven years did change what the the Bisons (25-10) accomplished this season, Acuff said, which included winning the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships.
"Nothing that happened today is going to take away from what our team did," Acuff said. "This is as good a group of young men as I've ever been around and they kept fighting and they gave us great memories and God has been so good to us."
Back-to-back 3-pointers by ASUN player of the year Jacob Ognacevic and Furman transfer Joe Anderson gave Lipscomb a 16-15 lead. Then Momcilovic, who averages 11.4 points per game, went on a tear scoring nine straight points in a 14-0 run that ended with the Cyclones up 29-16.
It was never close after that.
After making five 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes, Lipscomb only made two the rest of the way. The Bisons, who averaged 9.4 turnovers per game, committed 15.
"They turned up their pressure and they got more physical," Acuff said. "We really had a hard time with it. Every time in any possession there's a defining moment and we just couldn't win it. We couldn't win the spot on either end. They would knock us off our spot when they drove the ball. We couldn't get by them and we just had a hard time getting separation."
Ognacevic led Lipscomb with 18 points and Gyasi Powell added 11.
Iowa State (25-9) advanced to the second round where it will play the winner of the Ole Miss-North Carolina game on Sunday.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lipscomb no match for bigger, stronger Iowa State in NCAA tournament
Continue reading...
The No. 14 seed Bisons actually led early, but that was before No. 3 seed Iowa State's Milan Momcilovic started pushing around his smaller defenders on the way to a team-high 20-point game and before the Cyclones' defense began forcing Lipscomb into mistakes and miscues it hadn't made all season.
The Bisons simply could not match up against the 6-foot-8, 225 pound Momcilovic and company in the paint.
"Physically they were so much for us," Lipscomb coach Lennie Acuff said. "They're one of the few teams that just pounds the ball inside. I mean they just really took advantage of us at the four and five (positions). We were fighting, but we just didn't really have an answer."
At one point Iowa State (25-9) led Lipscomb 26-0 in points in the paint. The Cyclones ended up with a 50-20 advantage in the paint. Lipscomb starting center Charlie Williams finished with three points and one rebound and his backup Grant Asman had two points and two rebounds.
Being outmanned in Lipscomb's first NCAA tournament appearance in seven years did change what the the Bisons (25-10) accomplished this season, Acuff said, which included winning the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championships.
"Nothing that happened today is going to take away from what our team did," Acuff said. "This is as good a group of young men as I've ever been around and they kept fighting and they gave us great memories and God has been so good to us."
Back-to-back 3-pointers by ASUN player of the year Jacob Ognacevic and Furman transfer Joe Anderson gave Lipscomb a 16-15 lead. Then Momcilovic, who averages 11.4 points per game, went on a tear scoring nine straight points in a 14-0 run that ended with the Cyclones up 29-16.
It was never close after that.
After making five 3-pointers in the first 13 minutes, Lipscomb only made two the rest of the way. The Bisons, who averaged 9.4 turnovers per game, committed 15.
"They turned up their pressure and they got more physical," Acuff said. "We really had a hard time with it. Every time in any possession there's a defining moment and we just couldn't win it. We couldn't win the spot on either end. They would knock us off our spot when they drove the ball. We couldn't get by them and we just had a hard time getting separation."
Ognacevic led Lipscomb with 18 points and Gyasi Powell added 11.
Iowa State (25-9) advanced to the second round where it will play the winner of the Ole Miss-North Carolina game on Sunday.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lipscomb no match for bigger, stronger Iowa State in NCAA tournament
Continue reading...
