UCA falls to Lipscomb in finale before now getting ready for ASUN Tournament

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — UCA closed out the regular season Wednesday night with a 78-60 loss to No. 1 Lipscomb at Allen Arena, but now turn their attention to the Atlantic Sun Championship, which begins Sunday.

UCA earned the No. 10 seed and will remain in Nashville and face No. 9 Stetson at 6 p.m. on the same Allen Arena court. The winner will turn around 24 hours later and face Lipscomb on Monday night in the quarterfinals.

The Bisons, who earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over co-champion North Alabama, came out on fire from the perimeter and jumped out to as much as a 17-point lead in the opening half.

Lipscomb made seven three-pointers in the half but UCA ended up shooting better overall from the field in the first 20 minutes.

The Bears then responded early in the second half and pulled within three points on a Cole McCormick three-pointer with 12 minutes to play.

The veteran Bisons (22-9, 14-4) pulled away down the stretch to improve to 12-3 at home on the season. They made 13 of 33 from three-point range, with six different players making at least one.

All five starters finished in double figures, led by ASUN leading scorer Jacob Ognacevic with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

“This was a tough environment, this was a tough game for us,” said UCA coach John Shulman, whose Bears have battled injuries throughout the season. They were without starter Michael Evbagharu on Wednesday, along with freshman Layne Taylor who has been out for a month after shoulder surgery.

“What are we doing here. I know we’re trying to win the game, but what are we really doing in here. And I thought we did a really great job fighting. It was a three-point game in the second half. And I thought they (Lipscomb) were getting a little tight.

“But when it came to crunch time, they looked like veterans and we looked like freshmen. I wonder why. They’ve got fifth-year seniors and we got freshmen. We made freshman mistakes.”

UCA freshman power forward Nehemiah Turner played like a veteran for the Bisons, scoring a game and career-high 24 points, grabbing six rebounds and adding three assists.

He was 7-of-10 at the free-throw line when Lipscomb was forced to foul him. Sophomore point guard Brayden Fagbemi had 13 points while senior Elias Cato had 10 points, eight of those in the first half.

“I thought in the first half Elias played really good,” said Shulman. “I thought he played like a senior that was heading toward the end of his career. I appreciated his effort. I appreciated all our guys’ effort tonight. We just made some goofy plays, and they made some big plays. And they deserved to win a championship tonight.

“But I told our guys in that last time out, I want an opportunity to play them again, with stakes a lot bigger than tonight. But we know we have to take care of our business on Sunday against Stetson. But doesn’t it feel good to be talking about that? A little nervous for Sunday night? Having an opportunity to play in postseason play?

“We just saw the best teams in the ASUN, them and UNA back to back, and I thought we competed pretty good.”

Information from UCA Sports is included in this story.