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A-Sun Championship Coverage

Junior Ben Smith slammed 19 points for the Dolphins to advance to the finals. Courtesy of ASunPhotos.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Jacksonville left the boisterous home crowd stunned after a barrage of outside shots early in the second half, blitzing Lipscomb to the tune of an 88-72 victory on Friday in the semifinals of the General Shale Brick Atlantic Sun Men's Basketball Championship from the Bisons’ Allen Arena.

The Dolphins (18-12), or more specifically, Lehmon Colbert, opened the second half on a 10-4 run, pushing a 38-24 halftime advantage to a 20-point bulge two-and-a-half minutes into the second period. Colbert canned a pair of the 3-point tries, made a lay-up and thundered home a slam dunk on the fast break as he accounted for all 10 points in an 85-second span. He finished the night as the game's high scorer, totaling 20 points

Joining Colbert were four more Dolphins who scored in double-digits. All-Atlantic Sun guard Ben Smith scored 19, Defensive Player of the Year Ayron Hardy and Marcus Allen added 12 and Travis Cohn pitched in with 11. Together, those five, the five starters for the evening combined to score 74 of the teams' 88 points.

Jacksonville lead swelled to 30 points, 68-38, before Lipscomb (17-14) tried, in vain, to mount its comeback. The Bisons would get no closer than 12 points at any point in the second half. After shooting only 31.3 percent in the first half (10-for-32), Lipscomb shot 56.3 percent (18-for-32) in the second half.

The Dolphins snapped the Bisons' nine game winning streak and ended a five-game losing streak in Allen Arena to the Bisons. Josh Slater led four Bisons double-figure scorers, with 17. Brian Wright concluded his All-Freshman season with 12 points, nine coming off of three 3-point shots.

First-team All-Atlantic Sun center Adnan Hodzic suffered through one of his worst shooting nights of the season as he connected on only 37.5 percent of his field-goal tries. Tonight marked just the fourth time all season he shot worse than 50 percent from the floor for the first time since Jan. 19 against USC Upstate.

Jacksonville will face ETSU in Saturday's Championship game seeking its first NCAA bid since 1986. The game airs on ESPN2 at 5:00 p.m. CT and is also available on ESPN360.

Jacksonville advances to its second A-Sun Championship game. The Dolphins lost, 79-61, to Belmont last year. They will attempt to join UALR in 1985 and UCF in 2003 as the only two teams to lose in the final one year and capture the title in the next. With Jacksonville’s win, the top seed has advanced to each of the last six A-Sun Championship title games. They are just 1-4 in the previous five (Belmont, 2008).

For the third time in the last eight years, the same two schools will meet in both the men's and women's title games, and for the first time since the championships have been played concurrently at the same site. In 2007, Belmont’s men and women defeated ETSU. In 2002, FAU and Georgia State met each other. FAU won the men's crown while Georgia State won the women's title. The higher seed has won all five games thus far. The last A-Sun Men's Championship to go without an upset came in 1998 when College of Charleston won the second of back-to-back titles.

The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts six of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.