Thursday, January 03, 2008

MACON, Ga. - After eight weeks of historic non-conference play, that included five wins against schools from BCS conferences, two of which came against ranked opponents, eight Atlantic Sun teams open conference play tonight with the remaining four starting on Saturday.

Thursday's opening night of A-Sun play consists of Lipscomb and reigning Player of the Week Eddie Ard playing at Campbell and the A-Sun's leading scorer and rebounder, Jonathan Rodriguez. Gardner-Webb, author of the conference's first upset of the season (a 16-point win at Kentucky) hosts the Belmont Bruins, a team that won at both Cincinnati and Alabama in the non-conference. The league's four Florida schools face each other as Florida Gulf Coast, fresh off holding Penn to six points in the first half plays its first-ever Atlantic Sun game in Jacksonville at UNF. Also in Jacksonville, the Dolphins host Stetson.

Thursday, January 3
Lipscomb at Campbell, 7:00pm
Belmont at Gardner-Webb, 7:00pm
Florida Gulf Coast at UNF, 7:00pm
Stetson at Jacksonville, 7:00pm

Highlights from the non-conference season:

November 7, 2007; Lexington, Ky.
Gardner-Webb 84, No. 22 Kentucky 68

In the second round of the 2K Sports College Hoops Classic, the Runnin' Bulldogs sent shockwaves throughout college basketball with a 16-point win against Kentucky in front of almost 20,000 at Rupp Arena. Gardner-Webb opened the game with a 14-0 run and never looked back. The Runnin' Bulldogs led by 11 at halftime and shot 73.3 percent from the floor in the second half. Thomas Sanders scored 21 and grabbed 10 rebounds and Grayson Flittner scored a team-high 22 on 7-for-10 shooting including 3-for-6 on his 3-pt attempts.

November 9, 2007; Cincinnati
Belmont 86, Cincinnati 75

Two days after Gardner-Webb's win and less than 100 miles away from Rupp Arena, Belmont knocked off Cincinnati in the opening round of the Peggy Cronin Classic. The Bruins outscored the Bearcats 47-32 in the second half to erase a four-point halftime deficit. The Bruins shot 62.1 percent in the second half and connected on 7-for-12 from beyond the 3-pt arc in the final 20 minutes Andy Wicke and Justin Hare combined for 42 points of 16-for-28 shooting.

November 10, 2007; Los Angeles
Mercer 96, No. 18 USC 81

The Atlantic Sun's magical week concluded when Mercer traveled across the country and defeated USC in the debut of highly-touted freshman O.J. Mayo. Mayo scored 32, but Mercer's James Florence, the reigning Freshman of the Year, matched him with 30 points. The Bears jumped out to a 21-point in the first half and withstood a USC rally that saw the lead shrink to three midway through the second half. The Bears shot 59.4 percent for the game.

November 19, 2007; Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Belmont 85, Alabama 83

Less than two weeks after defeating Cincinnati, Belmont picked up its second win over a BCS opponent with an 85-83 thriller at Alabama. Justin Hare hit the game-winning shot, the 13th time in his career that he has hit a basketball either to win a game or force overtime. The win marked the first time in 13 tries that the Bruins had defeated an SEC opponent. The Bruins hit 8 3-pt field goals in the first half en route to jumping out to a 50-44 lead at halftime.

December 21, 2007; Honolulu
ETSU 76, Georgia 58

In the wee hours of the morning, east-coast time, ETSU added Georgia to Kentucky and Alabama among SEC teams to feel the wrath of the Atlantic Sun in the 2007-08 season. In the first round of the Rainbow Classic, the Buccaneers closed the first half on a 27-12 run turning around an early deficit into a nine-point lead ETSU extended the lead thanks to a 17-6 run to start the second half. Preseason Player of the Year Courtney Pigram led ETSU with 18 points.

December 30, 2007; Fort Myers, Fla.
Florida Gulf Coast 60, Penn 30

Florida Gulf Coast's punctuated its inaugural year of Division I non-conference play with a 60-30 win at home against 2007 NCAA Tournament participant Penn on the penultimate day of 2007. The Eagles held the Quakers scoreless for the first 13:29 of the game and limited the Quakers to just six points on one field goal and 5.9 percent shooting (1-17) through the opening 20 minutes . The Eagles held a 30-6 halftime lead and cruised to the 30-point win.