RICHMOND, Ky. — Eastern Kentucky outscored Lipscomb by 10 in the second half to pull away for its first ASUN win in program history, defeating the Bison 86-72 on Tuesday night in McBrayer Arena.
EKU (9-10, 1-4 ASUN) trailed by two midway through the first half but rattled off eight consecutive points to take a lead it would never relinquish. A Curt Lewis [ekusports.com] jumper knotted the score at 19-19 before Braxton Beverly's [ekusports.com] three with 9:00 left in the half gave the Colonels the lead for good. Lipscomb (8-12, 1-4 ASUN) whittled the lead down to one with 2:31 to go before halftime, but Lewis buried a three and Devontae Blanton [ekusports.com] answered a pair of Bison free throws with a layup to put Eastern up 41-37 at the break.
The Colonels extended their lead to nine by the first media timeout of the second half. Out of the break, Cooper Robb [ekusports.com] turned a steal into a trey and Michael Moreno [ekusports.com] netted EKU's next eight points to push the lead to 62-49 with 12:37 to play. Eastern Kentucky would lead by double-digits the rest of the night, going up by 18 off a Beverly three-pointer with 6:56 remaining.
Five different Colonels finished the night in double figures. Tariq Balogun [ekusports.com] was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe, finishing with 16 points and four blocks in 28 minutes. Moreno scored 16 points, while Lewis added 14 points and three steals. Blanton tallied a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Beverly finished the night with 11 points and a career-high 13 assists, finishing two shy of tying the EKU single-game record.
EKU shot 31-for-69 (44.9 percent) on the night and was 16-for-37 (43.2 percent) from long range. The Colonels tied a season-low with seven turnovers and limited the Bison to 37.1 percent shooting (13-for-35) in the second half.
Eastern Kentucky wraps up its three-game homestand on Saturday night when the Colonels face off against North Florida at 7:00 p.m.
