Game #131 of 364 36% complete
I started my tenth year of traveling for Operation 351 with a 2 game trip to the Music City – Nashville. So where does a parrot head stay when visiting Nashville? Why the Margaritaville Hotel, of course! To hear the sounds of Jimmy Buffet as I check in is a perfect way to start the trip.
I did not rent a car this time since the hotel was charging $57 a day to park. UBER worked just fine for this trip. I find that when I am the airport, it is easier to get a taxi as there usually no lines, instead of dealing with the crowds around the UBER wait areas. However, using UBER is easier when traversing the city from the hotel and other tourist spots.
This game features two schools from Nashville (Belmont & Liscomb) and is appropriately title the “Battle of the Boulevard”. The schools have met for the 151st time with Belmont winning 19 of the last 22 games. The schools are literally 5 minutes apart from each other. Fans from both teams were numerous and loud. I was fortunate to grab a courtside seat which can happen occasionally for a mid-major game but impossible for a high major game. I was sitting right in front of the Lipscomb student section. Unfortunately, there was one guy who annoyingly kept pounding a flagpole in the stand which reverberated in my head thorough out the game.
Belmont and Lipscomb teams were evenly matched. Lipscomb held the lead for most of the game until the final two minutes. Belmont came back and won the game on a three point play with 3 seconds left. Isiah Walker of Belmont grabbed a missed three point attempt and was fouled as he put in the tying basket. To add to the drama, Walker’s foul shot rolled around the rim a couple of times before falling in.
An alley-oop dunk attempt from Lipscomb’s Will Pruitt to Dylan Faulkner sailed over the rim and out of bounds at the buzzer.
Belmont scored on each of its final seven possessions, made eight consecutive shots before the final miss with eight seconds to go, and erased a 12-point deficit with 3:19 minutes left, all with Lipscomb not committing a turnover nor missing a free throw.
Kudos to Belmont forward Jacob Ognacevic who scored 28 points and missed the entire last season with an injury.
The Liscomb cheerleader (picture below) had to perform 50 pushups at some point during the game. Not quite sure what the trigger was for this!
On to Vanderbilt tomorrow night after a couple of margaritas in Margarativille.
journey to 351 