Lipscomb wins A-SUN to punch ticket to NCAA tournament

NASHVILLE (AP) — Joe Anderson scored 12 of his team-high 23 points in the final four minutes to help power top-seeded Lipscomb to a 76-65 win over North Alabama on Sunday to win the Atlantic Sun Conference tournament championship and claim an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The Bisons (25-9) finished tied with North Alabama (24-10) for the regular season championship with 14 wins and were the No. 1 tournament seed. Lipscomb needed overtime to get past sixth-seeded Queens in the semifinals The Lions were seeded second and beat fourth-seeded Jacksonville to reach the final.

Jacari Lane’s jumper gave North Alabama the lead with 11:46 left and Donte Bacchus converted a three-point play for a 53-49 advantage. Jacob Ognacevic hit three of four free throws and Will Pruitt hit from 3 for a 55-53 lead and Gyasi Powell hit a 3 with 4:13 left to put Lipscomb in front for good.

Anderson hit from deep to make it 65-60 and Anderson hit from 3 in a 7-0 run to take a 10-point lead with 1:34 left and converted 3 of 4 from the line in the final minute.

Anderson was 6 of 9 from the field, including 4 of 7 from deep, and hit 7 of 8 from the line with four assists, two steals and three blocked shots to lead Lipscomb. Pruitt was a perfect 10-for-10 from the line and finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and three assists. Powell hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range to add 16 points and Ognacevic had 14 points with nine rebounds.

Lane finished with 18 points and Corneilous Williams scored 15 points with seven rebounds to lead North Alabama. Will Soucie had 10 points with six boards and Taye Fields pulled down 12 rebounds to go with his six points.