Feb. 14, 2008

Box Score

Spartanburg, S.C. - Josh Slater scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds to lead Lipscomb to a 57-53 victory over USC Upstate Thursday night in Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball in the Hodge Center.

Lipscomb improved to 13-13 overall and 7-5 in the A-Sun. The Bisons travel to Johnson City, Tenn., to take on East Tennessee State Saturday. Upstate fell to 6-20 overall and 4-8 in the A-Sun. The Spartans play host to A-Sun frontrunner Belmont Saturday at 4:00.

"I thought we did a decent job of guarding the arc," said Upstate head coach Eddie Payne. "We did a good job guarding their key players with the exception of Slater. We dictated tempo. We just didn't get the job done."

Slater was simply solid in the first half for Lipscomb. He finished the half with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. He needed to be good with Eddie Ard, who entered the game averaging 17.5 points per game during conference play, playing just eight minutes after picking up two early fouls. Slater was key for the Bisons as Lipscomb opened a 33-27 lead at halftime.

Adana Hodzic converted a layup to give Lipscomb a 7-5 lead with 15:57 to play in the first half. Behind the play of Slater, the Bisons were able to extend the lead to 10 points with 5:37 to play. Lipscomb increased the lead to 11 on three different occasions, the last on a layup by Jason Hopkins. However, Luke Payne nailed a three-pointer and another jumper to cut the 11-point Lipscomb lead to six at the intermission.

Upstate struggled from the field in the first half with only three Spartans finding the scoring column. Payne led the way with 15 points, Jeremy Byrd added eight and Bobby Davis finished the half with four.

Upstate came out in the second half with energy and quickly turned the tide in the game. Nick Schneiders got the crowd going with a dunk. Byrd converted a layup and nailed a three-pointer before Davis' jumper gave Upstate its first lead of the game, 36-35, with 15:40 to play in the game.

After Hopkins' layup gave Lipscomb the lead back, Payne nailed a three-pointer to give Upstate a 39-37 lead with 14:33 to go. The game was nip and tuck the rest of the way.

With Upstate leading by one, Thomas Pfaff hit a jumper to give Lipscomb a 46-45 lead with 8:27 to play. The Bisons would not trail again in the game. Ard's three-pointer increased the lead to four at the 6:20 mark. Each time the Spartans would make a basket the rest of the way, Lipscomb countered with a bucket or free throws to keep Upstate at bay.

Upstate held Lipscomb to under 60 points in the game, marking the first time this season that the Spartans lost while holding its opponent to under 60 points. Prior to tonight's game, Upstate was 5-0 when holding opponents under 60 points on the season. The Spartan defense clamped down in the second half as well. Lipscomb had shot 52 percent in the first half, but shot 27.6 percent in the second and finished the game shooting 38.9 percent. Upstate finished the game shooting 39.3 percent from the floor. Lipscomb outscored Upstate 16-5 in bench points.

Slater finished the game with seven assists to go along with his double-double. Hodzig finished with 11 points as the only other Lipscomb player to score in double figures. Payne led Upstate with 20 points. Byrd added 18 with three assists, while Davis narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with eight points and 11 rebounds. He also dished out four assists.