Lipscomb University - Backlog Yearbook (Nashville, TN)

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Working to bring the Bisons within reach of the championship, John Kim- brell shoots over an Arkansas-Monti- cello player. Bisons! Bisons! Bison! 250 fans in Nashville's Metro Airport, welcoming home the championship team Two points are in the record book Despite Spring Break, fans followed for Tony Clanton as he reaches for the the team to Kansas City. goal. NAIA Championship 19

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| don’t feel like a most valuable player. This was a team thing. John Kimbrell after receiving the Most Valuable Player award for the tournament. 18 NAIA Championship The Dream, cont. ‘“‘We were forcing our shots,’’ said Jones, who fin- ished with 12 points and earned second-team all- tournament honors. ‘Coa- ch Meyer stressed that we should be more patient. We had been taking those same shots the last couple of games, but they were fall- ing in then.” ‘“Arkansas-Monticello was very deliberate with the ball, and we weren’t getting that many possessions. | think the fact we won our other games by so many points made us a little impatient.” “They did a good job of taking the ball away from us in the first half,’’ Martello said. It was a tactic that con- tributed to seven Bison turnovers in the first half. “We had been working on putting the ball under our chin and protecting it. We knew they could jump high- er that anyone we had faced,’’ said John Kimbrell, who finished with a game- leading 22 points and 11 rebounds. Led by the tournament’s most valuable player, se- nior All-American Kimbrell, the Bisons swept their final games by an average of 13 points. It was a fitting end for a team built on the old- fashioned “work ethic,’ a team whose unselfishness and disciplined attitude Continued ... The team discusses strategy during a critical moment when the Bisons were behind.

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de We learned to say thank you, ‘arigatoh’, and youre welcome, ‘dohitashimashite’ The Dream, cont. not only captured the na- tional championship, but for the second time in NAIA history, also captured the tournament’s Sportsman- ship Award. As the season drew to a close, Coach Don Meyer cleaned his bench and the final Lipscomb points of the championship season be- longed to reserve Greg Glenn, who completed a three-point play with 12 seconds remaining. Meyer called it an appro- priate finish to a team effort. “Here is a guy (Glenn) who went from being a stu- dent coach to a player, just so we would have enough players in uniform, and this team was as excited with his points as anyone else’s points tonight,’’ Meyer said. “That's the kind of guys we have. They deserved this.”’ The Bisons didn’t just de- serve the championship. They earned it. This article was written for the Lipscomb News by Jonathan Sea- mon, Assistant Athletic Director. Some quotes and other information were collected by Nashville sports- writers from the Nashville Banner and the Tennessean, notably Mark McGee and Ted Power. fi 1 Waiting to relieve teammates, Chris Martello and Anthony Jones sit in front of the scorer’s table during the championship game. Tom Kelsey after returning with the Bisons from the World Sports’ Fair in Japan 2 O NAIA Championship And Then, There Was Japan Besides winning the national title, the NAIA champs were invited to rep- resent the United States in the World Sports’ Fair in Japan. ‘A lot of people work to raise mon- ey to make a trip like this, and we are getting to go because of the offer ex- tended fr om Japan,’’ said Coach Don Meyer. The main reason for the touma- ment was to promote basketball in Ja- pan and educate their people on the sport. “They have a volleyball team in Ja- pan which is sponsored by Fuji Film. They are the teen idols of Japan,” said Tom Kelsey. “Our game was played the same time their game was being played, so we were both going to the buses at the same time. They hadn‘t made it to their bus yet, so there was a huge crowd between the outside of the gym to our bus. We just tried to weave our way through the crowd, but the kids were swarming us.” The Bisons first played a Japan Se- lection team which is more like a ju- nior varsity of the Japan National Team. By half time the Bisons had taken hold of a 45-19 domination and went on to win 82-50. One of the major factors in the tour- nament involved getting aquainted with international rules, such as a thirty-second shot clock, a 3-point shot, and the allowance of six person- al fouls. “The play in internationl ball is a lot more physical. The refs seldom make over-the-back calls. You can go for a rebound and jump on people's backs, and they won't call a foul,’’ Kelsey said after the game with the anee Selection team. The Bisons didn’t have the same kind of game with the Japan National team. Lipscomb was up by 10 at the half after not playing too well. Free throws and 7 foot 8 inch Yasutaka Okayama led to the Bisons defeat, 79- 78. The Bisons went on to beat the Swedish National Team by one. Compiled from Babbler articles