Battle of the Boulevard, Part 1

Men -- Belmont 99, Lipscomb 91 (2OT). Since Lipscomb joined the A-Sun, 5 of the 10 Belomnt games have gone to overtime.

Lipscomb came from 15 down in the final 9 minutes to take a 75-72 lead into the final seconds. Andy Wicke then hit a 3-ball with 8 seconds left to tie it, then banked in a 60-footer that got waved off because it was after the buzzer.

In overtime, it was Lipscomb's turn to pull off the last-second heroics. LaKory Danies got loose in the corner for a tying 3-ball with 3 seconds left. But the second overtime was all Bruins. Belmont went on a 9-1 run in the first two minutes of the second overtime to put the game away.

The only dark spot was Belmont's star senior guard Justin Hare, who was "not with the team due to personal reasons." That's too bad. I'm a Lipscomb guy, but Hare has become such a central character in the rivalry it's a shame he had to miss his last regular season game at Allen Arena. Whatever the "personal reasons" are, I hope they get resolved soon so he can rejoin the Bruins.

Women -- Belmont 47, Lipscomb 43.

The less said abot this game, the better. Ugh. After 50 minutes of fabulous, hard-nosed basketball, the building itself was exhausted and the teams played like it. Lipscomb shot 6-22 from 3-point range, made only 58% of their free throws, and was 7-32 (21.9%!!) from inside the arc. And they still had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 6 seconds left.

Each team had 65 possessions, and they combined for 90 points. 0.95 points per possession is the standard of mediocrity in the men's game, 0.85 for women. This game they combined for 0.69. 1 out of every 3 possessions ended in a turnover.

Here's hoping this turn around for both teams. Quickly.