NASHVILLE-The generally polite, humble Tyler Lundblade watched his work of art flow through the net at Curb Event Center, turned to the contingent of Belmont students and grabbed the front of his jersey as to emphasize the blue “Belmont” lettering engraved across it. Lundblade has been around this sport and this place long enough to understand that the shot he had just made to put Belmont up 14 was significant enough to become part of this rivalry’s lore and that his subsequent action would give him a signature moment in this series. The moment was Lundblade and Belmont’s on Wednesday night like it so often has been in this rivalry, he knows the significance of that. “Everybody on our staff, from AD [Scott] Corley all the way down when they talk about the schedule, that one is circled,” Lundblade said prior to the game. “I think that it means a lot when the people up top really care about it and it trickles down to everybody else.” As a result of Lundblade turning the accelerator on in the second half of Wednesday’s game, everyone within Belmont’s program was able to celebrate on Wednesday night as Casey Alexander’s Belmont program took down Lipscomb for the ninth time in the teams’ last 10 meetings and for the third time in a row. In a lot of ways, this rivalry that always appears to push off any result until the final seconds of each game appears to have taken on the theme of Belmont sitting in the driver’s seat and hitting the accelerator while Lipscomb works to catch up. The last two matchups took a thrilling moment at the buzzer for this Belmont team to break away with a win, but not this time. Wednesday the Bruins led by as much as 18 en route to a 75-68 win over their crosstown rivals that was closer to a runaway win than a nailbiter down the stretch. The Bruins’ final margin of victory fell short of the 13. 5-point spread, but still indicated something about the state of these two programs. When it was all said and done, an audible “little brother” chant belted out from the Belmont student section in the direction of the Lipscomb bench. For as much success as Lipscomb has had-including a few 20-win seasons and an NCAA Tournament berth-it doesn’t have much room to argue that group’s claim. This season it certainly doesn’t. Carroll stated prior to the game that his program is in the midst of a “rebuild” year while it appears as if Casey Alexander’s Belmont team is in the midst of a competitive window. This rivalry is often one in which records can be thrown out, but logic kicked in for these two programs at some point. “Today’s age, at our level, you have to be thinking in two-year cycles,” Carroll said through a stare that made his disappointment in Wednesday night’s result nearly tangible. “Now they’re on the back end of that cycle, and we’re on the front end of that cycle.” Lipscomb center Charlie Williams’ eyes seemed to light up as he spun into position and was seemingly set to end a scoring drought in which Lipscomb didn’t get on the board for the first 6: 53 of the second half. It was a seemingly perfect storm for the Bisons-its most established player finally had room around the bucket. Yet when the play was over, Belmont was racing the other way after Drew Scharnowski sprinted over from the weakside and tipped Williams’ shot off the glass. The play was emblematic of the tone on that end for Carroll’s Lipscomb team all of Wednesday night. If the Bisons were to score, they had to be methodical and work tirelessly until they finally broke through with a bucket. Sometimes it happened, but it never appeared to be all that easy. It was unlike the Lipscomb that those surrounding this rivalry have come to know over the years. The team that those that have seen has always been one that was more likely to win a race to 100 than to have any trouble scoring it. Perhaps the scoring difficulties had more to do with Belmont’s defense which Carroll said is among the best he’s seen from a Belmont team than Lipscomb’s offense, but they still said something. “I thought that we really over dribbled the ball too much against what they do,” Carroll said. “I think some of that had to do with just them just doing a great job.” Casey Alexander’s Belmont team wasn’t sharp on Wednesday night like it knows it can be, but it was blissfully ignorant in regard to the way Carroll’s team had to generate offense. Belmont had the luxury of running Lundblade off of a pindown or finding physically imposing big man Drew Scharnowski working a mismatch for a dunk. Belmont turned it over 22 times and shot 19 less times than Lipscomb did on Wednesday night, yet it led for 35: 28 and never looked back after taking a 25-24 lead in the seconds prior to halftime. The differences between these two programs lies in their margin for error as currently constructed. “I like the makeup of our team, I like the culture within our program,” Alexander said. “I think we have tons of potential. The discouraging thing is the number of mistakes and just how bad it can look at times. But that’s also the encouraging part is that we have so much room for improvement when I think we have a good team in our locker room.” Who knows what tomorrow holds for this Belmont team and this Lipscomb team which is being urged by Carroll to focus on one day at a time rather than the bigger picture but Wednesday night is one worth celebrating for this Belmont team and agonizing over for this Lipscomb program. “Obviously a great win, huge rivalry that’s dated way back,” Scharnowski said. “Coach made sure to let us know about that rivalry and how important it is to come out and play to our best.”.
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Belmont and Lipscomb separate in rivalry parity as Belmont wins third-straight in Battle of the Boulevard
