Revenge was sweet for the Lipscomb Bisons Tuesday night, as they avenged their earlier blowout loss to the Belmont Bruins with a 73-64 win in the second half of this year’s Battle of the Boulevard.
The Bisons (12-8, 7-4) came back from an 18-point first half deficit, which was the Bruins first conference loss (18-4, 10-1) of the season.
After leading handily for most of the first half, senior Adnan Hodzic led the Bisons on an 11-2 run the last four minutes of the half, cutting the Bruins’ lead to nine and giving the Bisons the chance they needed.
“[The last four minutes] were huge,” said Belmont head coach Rick Byrd. “They had gotten it close, and felt like they were winning.”
Hodzic, who scored 26, and the Bisons continued their run early in the second half, and chipped away at the Bruin lead until they tied the game at 47 with 12:58 left.
The rest of the second half was a back and forth battle between the two teams. Neither team had more than a four point lead until a Jordan Burgason three-pointer with 1:07 gave the Bisons a six-point lead they wouldn’t give up.
After the lopsided Belmont win twelve days ago, it was obvious the Bisons and their fans had a chip on their shoulders, said Byrd.
“We probably generated some emotional ill will by our last game,” he said.
Even with the loss, the coach is still proud of the team’s 10-game winning streak during the past five weeks.
Jon House started the scoring early with 11 of the Bruins’ first 13 points of the game. Drew Hanlen led the team with 12 points, while Blake Jenkins scored 10.
For the Bisons, Jordan Burgason had 17 points, while Brandon Brown had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.