Battle of the Boulevard

Battle of the Boulevard
	Belmont Bruins Lipscomb Bisons
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 76–73
Largest victory	Lipscomb, 105–68 (1986)
Longest win streak	Belmont, 11 Games (2012–2017)
Current win streak	Lipscomb, 1 Game (2022-Present)

The Battle of the Boulevard, also referred to as the Belmont–Lipscomb 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, Tennessee– 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 2012–13 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.

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Locations of Belmont and Lipscomb

Series history

Officially the first meeting took place on December 11, 1953, with Belmont emerging victorious 72–53. 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 124–105. Current Lipscomb athletics director and former star Philip Hutcheson said, "If you looked at Belmont’s 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 66–64 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 58–55 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 74–69.[4]

Despite playing in different conferences since the start of the 2012–13 season, the two schools agreed to continue playing each other, and typically square off at least twice each season.[5]

References

"Fan Zone – Battle of the Boulevard". LipscombSports.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
"Battle of the Boulevard excites fans for 20 years". Lipscomb.edu. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
"Belmont Bruins vs Lipscomb Bisons – Box Score – January 27, 2004 – ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
"Lipscomb Bisons vs Belmont Bruins – Box Score – March 4, 2006 – ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
Allison, Autumn. "Battle: Bout continues, business as usual, after hiatus". BelmontVision.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[1] "Fan Zone – Battle of the Boulevard". LipscombSports.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

[2] "Battle of the Boulevard excites fans for 20 years". Lipscomb.edu. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

[3] "Belmont Bruins vs Lipscomb Bisons – Box Score – January 27, 2004 – ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.

[4] "Lipscomb Bisons vs Belmont Bruins – Box Score – March 4, 2006 – ESPN". espn.com. Retrieved 10 October 2014.

[5] Allison, Autumn. "Battle: Bout continues, business as usual, after hiatus". BelmontVision.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

Belmont Bruins men's basketball
Venues	Striplin Gym (1964–2001) Nashville Municipal Auditorium (2001–2003) Curb Event Center (2003–present)
Rivalries	Lipscomb
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24

Lipscomb Bisons men's basketball
Venues	McQuiddy Gym (?–2001) Allen Arena (2001–present)
Rivalries	Belmont
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NAIA national championship in bold