Men's Basketball Wins Battle of the Boulevard

Photo taken by Nick Rampe

Men’s basketball defended Belmont Boulevard with a 75-68 win over Lipscomb University Wednesday night.

The win ties the all-time series at 76-76 and marks the fifth straight home victory for Belmont in the rivalry.In the first-half, Belmont’s offense struggled.

The Bruins recorded their worst first-half performance of the season shooting 30.8% from the field and 16.7% from the three-point three-point line.

Belmont also had a season-high of 22 turnovers in the game.“We definitely did a lot well but the inconsistency for our team on both ends was just pretty mind-boggling,” said head coach Casey Alexander, “We also have to just value the ball better, make cleaner decisions and be more certain.”

The first half’s scoring mainly consisted of layups and free throws for Belmont.Lipscomb also struggled, shooting 28.6% from the field and 19% from three-point range in the first half.

Belmont took a 25-24 lead into halftime. Last season’s NCAA three-point percentage leader Tyler Lundblade did not post any points until the second-half of the game.

After a defensive rebound by freshman guard Jabez Jenkins, graduate guard Nic McClain passed the ball to Lundblade to put up his first three-pointer of the game. Lundblade then went on to make up for his first half performance by racking up 18 points by the end of the game.

In the second half, Belmont’s defense was dominant, holding Lipscomb scoreless for the first seven minutes of the period. “Coach encouraged us to up our intensity on defense, really lock in on the fundamentals on both sides, and they really paid off,” said sophomore forward Drew Scharnowski.

Scharnowski put on a stellar performance, recording his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds. 

Lipscomb junior guard Ross Candelino shot a three-pointer to end the scoreless streak to make the game 41-27 with 13 minutes remaining.

From then on, it became an offensive battle between the two sides.

The Bruins kept adding to their lead but Lipscomb still inched forward.

With five minutes remaining, Lipscomb graduate center Grant Asman shot three three-pointers within 99 seconds of each other to reel in the Bruins to an eight-point deficit.

Asman then fouled McClain, and two free throws later, Belmont was back to a ten-point lead with three minutes left in the game.

With 54 seconds left in the game, McClain went down with pain coming from his right leg.

McClain made a fastbreak dunk 20 seconds later to put Belmont up 73-63.

Lipscomb did all that it could to stop the clock and give the offense a chance to gain some ground, but it was not enough and Belmont took home the win 75-68.

McClain came into the night with 977 career points. The graduate guard finished five points shy of joining his brother, Kevin McClain, in the 1,000-point club.

The former Eastern Washington guard finished with 18 points and six assists, making it his fourth game in a row with five or more assists in a game.

The Bruins remain undefeated and move on to Fisk University on Friday where they will play again at home at 6:30 p.m.

This article was written by Reece Leddy