Liberty Opens as 12.5-Point Favorite in Atlantic Sun Championship Game vs Lipscomb
- The top-seeded Liberty Flames are 12.5-point favorites to beat #3 Lipscomb Bisons in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament final Sunday (March 8, 3 pm ET)
- It’s a rematch of last year’s final, won 74-68 by Liberty. Will history repeat itself?
- All the the picks, odds, best bets and predictions are outlined in the story below
The Liberty Flames and Lipscomb Bisons are ready to do it again. Last year, Liberty downed Lipscomb 74-68 to capture the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament championship.
The same two schools will meet in a rematch for the title on Sunday (March 8, 3 pm ET) at the Vines Center in Lynchburg, Va.
Top-seeded Liberty bounced #4 Stetson 66-62 in Thursday’s semifinal. In the other semifinal, third-seed Lipscomb upset #2 North Florida Ospreys 73-71.
Sportsbooks have established the Flames as 12.5-point favorites in Sunday’s title game.
Lipscomb Bisons vs Liberty Flames Odds
| Team | Spread | Moneyline | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lipscomb Bisons | +12.5 (-115) | OFF | Over 128.5 (-105) |
| Liberty Flames | -12.5 (-105) | OFF | Under 128.5 (-115) |
Odds taken March 7th
The Bisons are playing in the ASUN Tournament final for the third straight year. They’re just the fifth school to do so in conference history.
Atlantic Sun Tournament Bracket
A Rally For Liberty
Liberty was the overwhelming -450 favorite in the ASUN Tournament opening odds but the Flames ended up working the comeback trail to reach the final.
Liberty trailed Stetson 25-22 at halftime of their semifinal. The Flames ended up using a 15-2 second-half run to gain control of the game.
ASUN CHAMPIONSHIP HERE WE COME! #RiseWithUs
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Final score presented by Patel & Dalrymple: https://t.co/saJbcCPdUl pic.twitter.com/Wm9cQ262fS— Liberty Men's Basketball (@LibertyMBB_) March 6, 2020
ASUN Player of the Year Caleb Homesley paced the comeback with 26 points. With the win, Liberty improves to 5-0 all-time in ASUN Championship play. The Flames will host the title game for the first time in program history.
It’s the fourth straight year that the #1 seed has advanced to the final. But those one seeds are 1-3 in the championship game.
Lipscomb Is Back
The Bisons turned in an epic performance to topple the Ospreys in Friday’s semifinal. They won virtually every statistical battle from North Florida.
Lipscomb shot 50% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range. They outrebounded UNF 38-30.
Bisons center Ahsan Asadullah (27 points) and guard Andrew Fleming (26) combined for 53 points to outscore all five North Florida starters. Fleming drained the game-winning shot with three seconds left in regulation.
North Florida had been 2-0 all-time against Lipscomb in the ASUN Tournament. Both previous wins came in the semifinals in 2015 and 2017.
Asadulah Dominant
Leading the way for Lipscomb on their charge to the final is Asadulah. The 6-foot-8, 265-pounder pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds in the semifinal victory. That’s a new school record for rebounds in an ASUN Tournament game.
Dropping in a Lipscomb RECORD HIGH 4⃣0⃣ points in Allen Arena, let's give it up for our Player of the Game @ahsanasadullah ?? pic.twitter.com/lZhUpLykJb
— LipscombMBB (@LipscombMBB) March 4, 2020
Asadulah poured in 40 points as the Bisons downed Florida Gulf Coast 68-63 in the quarterfinals.
Analyzing The Rematch
Lipscomb is just 16-15 on the season but is 8-1 in the last nine games. Liberty is 29-4. The Flames are 12-1 in their last 13 games. However, that lone blemish was a 77-71 loss to the Bisons in the regular-season finale.
That defeat cost Liberty the outright conference regular season title. The Flames ended up sharing the crown with North Florida.
Back-to-back title wins are fairly commonplace in the ASUN Tournament. In fact, it’s happened on five occasions since 2004, and seven times overall. Belmont actually won three in a row from 2006-08.
Liberty will have the distinct advantage of playing in front of their home fans at the Vines Center. The Flames beat the Bisons there 67-60 on Jan. 18th.
Last season, Liberty beat Mississippi State to reach the second round of the NCAA Tournament and are the top-rated ASUN team in the National Championship odds. Eight players are back from that playoff-hardened club.
That’s going to be tough for Lipscomb to overcome.
Pick: Liberty Flames -12.5 (-105).
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
