Sport | Basketball |
---|---|
First meeting | December 11, 1953 Belmont 72, Lipscomb 53. |
Latest meeting | November 14, 2022 Lipscomb 77, Belmont 75 |
Next meeting | November 2023 |
Statistics | |
Meetings total | 149 |
All-time series | Lipscomb leads 76β73 |
Largest victory | Lipscomb, 105β68 (1986) |
Longest win streak | Belmont, 11 Games (2012β2017) |
Current win streak | Lipscomb, 1 Game (2022-Present) |
The Battle of the Boulevard, also referred to as the BelmontβLipscomb basketball rivalry is a college basketball rivalry between the Belmont University Bruins and the Lipscomb University Bisons. Its nickname was established because of both school's close placement in Nashville, Tennesseeβ about three miles apart on the same road. The rivalry was classified as non-conference following Belmont's departure from the Atlantic Sun Conference prior to the 2012β13 NCAA Division I basketball season. Their first meeting took place on December 11, 1953. It is one of the geographically closest rivalries in NCAA Division I.
Series history
Officially the first meeting took place on December 11, 1953, with Belmont emerging victorious 72β53. Neither team was in the NCAA.[1]
Perhaps the greatest college basketball game between Belmont University and Lipscomb University was played on February 17, 1990 in front of an NAIA-record sellout crowd of 15,399 at Memorial Gymnasium (Vanderbilt University) in Nashville, Tennessee. Lipscomb won 124β105. Current Lipscomb athletics director and former star Philip Hutcheson said, "If you looked at Belmontβs box score alone you could have never imagined that they lost the game with the points they scored and the stat lines they had."[2]
On January 27, 2004, both teams met in NCAA Division I conference play for the first time, with Belmont prevailing 66β64 in overtime. [3]
On March 4, 2006, the two met in the finals of the Atlantic Sun tournament, with the winner earning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Although both schools compiled a rich NAIA post-season history, neither had ever made an NCAA tournament appearance. Lipscomb guard James Poindexter drained a three-pointer with 27.7 seconds remaining in regulation to stake Lipscomb to a 58β55 lead, but Belmont guard Justin Hare responded with a driving layup, and was fouled with 20.7 seconds remaining. After making the tying free-throw, the game went into overtime, where Belmont won 74β69.[4]
Despite playing in different conferences since the start of the 2012β13 season, the two schools agreed to continue playing each other, and typically square off at least twice each season.[5]
References
- β "Fan Zone β Battle of the Boulevard". LipscombSports.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- β "Battle of the Boulevard excites fans for 20 years". Lipscomb.edu. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
- β "Belmont Bruins vs Lipscomb Bisons β Box Score β January 27, 2004 β ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
- β "Lipscomb Bisons vs Belmont Bruins β Box Score β March 4, 2006 β ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
- β Allison, Autumn. "Battle: Bout continues, business as usual, after hiatus". BelmontVision.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.