Freed-Hardeman men lose opener in overtime
By MICHAEL ODOM • michaelodom@jacksonsun.com • March 19, 2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Free throws were the difference for Rocky Mountain in the opening round of the NAIA men's national tournament.
The Battlin' Bears beat Freed-Hardeman 78-77 in overtime on Wednesday at Municipal Auditorium.
"We were outscored by 12 at the free-throw line," Freed-Hardeman coach Jason Shelton said. "It is hard to overcome that."
Rocky Mountain (24-9) advances to the second round to play Central Methodist on Friday at 2:15 p.m. The Lions finish the season 24-10.
The Battlin' Bears scored six of their 12 points in the overtime period from the free-throw line.
Rocky Mountain hit 21-of-34 (61.8 percent) free throws in the game compared to Freed-Hardeman's 9-of-13 (69.2).
The Battlin' Bears shot one more free throw in the overtime period than the Lions did in the entire game.
"I guess we didn't do a good enough job attacking the basket," Shelton said. "When they almost shoot more free throws in overtime than we did in the game, we didn't do something right."
Freed-Hardeman came out strong, jumping out to a 26-11 lead midway through the first quarter. Seven different Lions scored during that stretch.
The Battlin' Bears responded with a run of their own late in the half. FHU led 36-19, but Rocky Mountain scored nine unanswered points to narrow the Lions' lead to eight.
Freed-Hardeman shot the ball well in the first half, hitting 51.7 percent and holding a nine-point lead at halftime. But the Lions had 11 turnovers in the first half that allowed the Battlin' Bears to stay in the game.
Rocky Mountain began to find its way to the free-throw line more in the second half, hitting 11-of-18 from the charity stripe.
The Battlin' Bears also started to dominate the offensive boards. Rocky Mountain had 16 offensive rebounds in the game, 10 in the second half.
"We were fortunate to come back in the second half," Rocky Mountain coach Bill Dreikosen said. "We started taking care of the ball and grabbing offensive rebounds."
But junior Zack Frey kept the Lions in the game with 11 points in the second half. Frey finished with a game-high 18 points.
With the game tied at 65-65 and 1:12 left in the game, sophomore Jesse Moulton hit a 3-pointer to give the Lions a three-point lead. Rocky Mountain answered with a 3-pointer by Chase Sukut with :32 remaining.
"The momentum just shifted in the second half," FHU senior Shun Trevillian said. "We stopped making our shots, and they fought hard to get back in the game."
FHU was not able to convert on its final possession to force overtime.
This was Freed-Hardeman's second-ever trip to the national tournament. The last was in 1998 when the Lions lost to Southern Nazarene 67-60 in the first round.
"We have four seniors that worked hard to get our program here," Shelton said.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
National Tournament
The bracket finally came out yesterday for the National Tournament and we play Rocky Mountain College out of Montana. We received the #13 overall seed for the tournament. The entire bracket can be viewed at http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/103106aab.html and you can also follow the scores and stats via the gametracker option. We are leaving for Kansas City Sunday around 1 pm and are very excited about this opportunity. It should be a very fun and rewarding trip.
On Tuesday we are taking part in a Champions of Character event where we are going to a local elementary school to meet with kids and talk to them about the program and also to promote the tournament. This season we did a reading program with all of the area first grade classes and our guys really enjoyed reading to the kids so this should also be an enjoyable experience for them.
Best of luck to the State Tournament teams and I look forward to following all of those games while we are out in KC. State Tournament week is one of my favorite weeks of the year and although I'm a little sad that I won't be able to make it, I'm very excited that we are playing in the National Tournament and I would take that any day over just watching the state tourney.
Thanks for all of the encouragement this year and we hope to do you proud while out in KC. I'll try to update some while we are out there but I'm not making any promises.
GO LIONS!
On Tuesday we are taking part in a Champions of Character event where we are going to a local elementary school to meet with kids and talk to them about the program and also to promote the tournament. This season we did a reading program with all of the area first grade classes and our guys really enjoyed reading to the kids so this should also be an enjoyable experience for them.
Best of luck to the State Tournament teams and I look forward to following all of those games while we are out in KC. State Tournament week is one of my favorite weeks of the year and although I'm a little sad that I won't be able to make it, I'm very excited that we are playing in the National Tournament and I would take that any day over just watching the state tourney.
Thanks for all of the encouragement this year and we hope to do you proud while out in KC. I'll try to update some while we are out there but I'm not making any promises.
GO LIONS!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lions win in overtime, head to conference championship
HENDERSON, Tenn. - In a season of firsts, go ahead and add another to the list.
The Freed-Hardeman Lions advanced to the TranSouth Conference championship game for the first time in program history with a 72-68 overtime thriller over Cumberland (Tenn.) on Saturday night in the Sports Center. It is the second straight time that the two teams have gone to overtime against each other, with the Lions coming out on top on both occasions.
The Lions will play top-seeded Union (Tenn.), a 72-65 winner over Martin Methodist (Tenn.) earlier in the night, at 7:00 PM on Tuesday at Union.
It looked like FHU would lock up the physical game in regulation after using a 12-2 run to take a 49-45 lead with 5:24 to play, then extending the lead to eight points with 54 seconds left after Kristoffer Smith made 1-of-2 from the foul line.
But Cumberland scored 11 points on its next three possessions that included a traditional three-point play and a pair of 3-pointers, the last one by Jamar Finley with seven seconds left to tie the game at 59-59.
The two teams traded four free throws each in the first three minutes of overtime. Smith then went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe missing the second, which was tipped out by Wes Mayes into the hands of Kirtiss Brown to keep the ball on FHU's end. Seconds later, Shun Trevillian made both ends of a double bonus to put the Lions up by three with 1:18 left.A bit of controversy ensued on the following possession as Finley appeared to make a 3-pointer from the left baseline, but the nearside official overruled the call, saying Finley's foot was on the line and gave him a two-point basket. FHU's Jesse Moulton added to the Bulldogs' frustration by knocking down a deep 3-pointer from left wing to put the Lions up by four inside a minute to play. Mario Stowers missed a 3-pointer to answer, and Trevillian pushed the lead to six by making two more from the line.
Stowers hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to make it a 71-68 game, but this time the Lions got the ball into Smith who made the first of two free throws to effectively seal the victory.
Smith led all scorers with 27 points and made several clutch shots throughout the game. Zack Frey added 17 and Trevillian had 11, six of which came in overtime. Brandon Springer, Jamar Finley, and Kenneth Simms each had 13 points for Cumberland.
The Lions improve to 24-8 on the season, one shy of the program record for wins in a season set in 2001-02. Cumberland falls to 26-5 and should receive an at-large bid to the national tournament later this month.
The Freed-Hardeman Lions advanced to the TranSouth Conference championship game for the first time in program history with a 72-68 overtime thriller over Cumberland (Tenn.) on Saturday night in the Sports Center. It is the second straight time that the two teams have gone to overtime against each other, with the Lions coming out on top on both occasions.
The Lions will play top-seeded Union (Tenn.), a 72-65 winner over Martin Methodist (Tenn.) earlier in the night, at 7:00 PM on Tuesday at Union.
It looked like FHU would lock up the physical game in regulation after using a 12-2 run to take a 49-45 lead with 5:24 to play, then extending the lead to eight points with 54 seconds left after Kristoffer Smith made 1-of-2 from the foul line.
But Cumberland scored 11 points on its next three possessions that included a traditional three-point play and a pair of 3-pointers, the last one by Jamar Finley with seven seconds left to tie the game at 59-59.
The two teams traded four free throws each in the first three minutes of overtime. Smith then went 1-of-2 from the charity stripe missing the second, which was tipped out by Wes Mayes into the hands of Kirtiss Brown to keep the ball on FHU's end. Seconds later, Shun Trevillian made both ends of a double bonus to put the Lions up by three with 1:18 left.A bit of controversy ensued on the following possession as Finley appeared to make a 3-pointer from the left baseline, but the nearside official overruled the call, saying Finley's foot was on the line and gave him a two-point basket. FHU's Jesse Moulton added to the Bulldogs' frustration by knocking down a deep 3-pointer from left wing to put the Lions up by four inside a minute to play. Mario Stowers missed a 3-pointer to answer, and Trevillian pushed the lead to six by making two more from the line.
Stowers hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left to make it a 71-68 game, but this time the Lions got the ball into Smith who made the first of two free throws to effectively seal the victory.
Smith led all scorers with 27 points and made several clutch shots throughout the game. Zack Frey added 17 and Trevillian had 11, six of which came in overtime. Brandon Springer, Jamar Finley, and Kenneth Simms each had 13 points for Cumberland.
The Lions improve to 24-8 on the season, one shy of the program record for wins in a season set in 2001-02. Cumberland falls to 26-5 and should receive an at-large bid to the national tournament later this month.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Lions lead wire-to-wire, advance to TSAC semifinals
HENDERSON, Tenn. - The No. 13 Freed-Hardeman Lions led wire-to-wire, advancing to the TranSouth Conference tournament semifinals for the first time since 2002 with an 86-71 win over seventh-seeded Bethel (Tenn.) College on Thursday night in the Sports Center.
Though FHU - the tournament's No. 2 seed - never trailed in the game, Bethel never really allowed the Lions to get comfortable. Every time it looked like Freed would put the game away, the Wildcats would answer with a mini-run to stay just close enough to still have a chance.
The Lions came out of the gate on fire, opening the game on an 18-4 run highlighted by a Kirtiss Brown two-handed dunk. But Bethel quickly closed in via a 14-5 run that cut the Lions' lead to five points with 9:40 left in the half. FHU followed by rolling off nine straight points and still held a 15-point lead with 1:08 left in the half before Bethel's Antoine Lesesene scored the last four points of the half to send the Lions into the locker room with a 43-32 lead.
Freed-Hardeman led by double digits for the entirety of the second half, leading by as many as 21 (75-54) with 8:05 to play before the Wildcats' 10-2 run trimmed the lead down to 13 on Eddie King's basket with 5:44 left. That, however, would be the closest Bethel would get.Zack Frey continued his stellar play against Bethel, scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting to lead all scorers. Jesse Moulton added 17 on the strength of five 3-pointers while Kristoffer Smith chipped in 13. Bethel was led by Lesesene's 19 points.
Freed-Hardeman (23-8) advances to the semifinals on Saturday at 7:00 PM when it will host No. 15 Cumberland (Tenn.), an 83-66 winner over Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) tonight. The two teams split the regular season series with each winning on its home floor.
Though FHU - the tournament's No. 2 seed - never trailed in the game, Bethel never really allowed the Lions to get comfortable. Every time it looked like Freed would put the game away, the Wildcats would answer with a mini-run to stay just close enough to still have a chance.
The Lions came out of the gate on fire, opening the game on an 18-4 run highlighted by a Kirtiss Brown two-handed dunk. But Bethel quickly closed in via a 14-5 run that cut the Lions' lead to five points with 9:40 left in the half. FHU followed by rolling off nine straight points and still held a 15-point lead with 1:08 left in the half before Bethel's Antoine Lesesene scored the last four points of the half to send the Lions into the locker room with a 43-32 lead.
Freed-Hardeman led by double digits for the entirety of the second half, leading by as many as 21 (75-54) with 8:05 to play before the Wildcats' 10-2 run trimmed the lead down to 13 on Eddie King's basket with 5:44 left. That, however, would be the closest Bethel would get.Zack Frey continued his stellar play against Bethel, scoring 21 points on 9-of-14 shooting to lead all scorers. Jesse Moulton added 17 on the strength of five 3-pointers while Kristoffer Smith chipped in 13. Bethel was led by Lesesene's 19 points.
Freed-Hardeman (23-8) advances to the semifinals on Saturday at 7:00 PM when it will host No. 15 Cumberland (Tenn.), an 83-66 winner over Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.) tonight. The two teams split the regular season series with each winning on its home floor.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Frey, Shelton lead nine Lions receiving TSAC honors
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lions were well represented in the TranSouth Conference's post-season awards that were released on Tuesday, March 4, with Coach Jason Shelton and eight players receiving various honors.
Zack Frey, Kristoffer Smith, and Jesse Moulton were all selected to the all-conference team. It was the first time that FHU placed three players on the all-conference squad since 2003.
Frey, a 6-foot-8 junior from Nashville, Tenn., was named to the first team for the second year in a row. He averaged 17.9 points per game during conference play while shooting 59.7 percent from the field. Smith and Moulton were both second-team selections after averaging 12.9 and 12.5 points per game respectively in conference play. Smith, a senior, was also named to the second team as a sophomore in 2007. Moulton was one of only two sophomores to receive the honor this year.
After guiding the Lions to a 22-8 regular season record and 13-3 conference record, Shelton was named the TranSouth Conference Coach of the Year. This year, the Lions have received their first national ranking since 2003 and set a school record for conference wins in a season. Shelton is in his fourth season at Freed-Hardeman.
Anthony Sampson was one of six players to be named to the conference's all-freshman team. The 5-foot-3 guard from Jackson, Tenn., averaged 1.5 points per game in conference play and gave the Lions a spark off the bench at the point.
FHU also had five players named as TranSouth Scholar Athletes: Vincent Barnes, Brian Pearson, Logan Greer, Zack Frey, and Wesley Mayes. To be named a scholar athlete, players must be a sophomore, junior, or senior and carry at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
Zack Frey, Kristoffer Smith, and Jesse Moulton were all selected to the all-conference team. It was the first time that FHU placed three players on the all-conference squad since 2003.
Frey, a 6-foot-8 junior from Nashville, Tenn., was named to the first team for the second year in a row. He averaged 17.9 points per game during conference play while shooting 59.7 percent from the field. Smith and Moulton were both second-team selections after averaging 12.9 and 12.5 points per game respectively in conference play. Smith, a senior, was also named to the second team as a sophomore in 2007. Moulton was one of only two sophomores to receive the honor this year.
After guiding the Lions to a 22-8 regular season record and 13-3 conference record, Shelton was named the TranSouth Conference Coach of the Year. This year, the Lions have received their first national ranking since 2003 and set a school record for conference wins in a season. Shelton is in his fourth season at Freed-Hardeman.
Anthony Sampson was one of six players to be named to the conference's all-freshman team. The 5-foot-3 guard from Jackson, Tenn., averaged 1.5 points per game in conference play and gave the Lions a spark off the bench at the point.
FHU also had five players named as TranSouth Scholar Athletes: Vincent Barnes, Brian Pearson, Logan Greer, Zack Frey, and Wesley Mayes. To be named a scholar athlete, players must be a sophomore, junior, or senior and carry at least a 3.0 cumulative GPA.
Monday, March 2, 2009
A couple of highlights on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XONAMgNejwY
Kris Smith's Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ztA3Tf_9mA
Lions hit 11 3's in the first half
Kris Smith's Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ztA3Tf_9mA
Lions hit 11 3's in the first half
A couple of highlights on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XONAMgNejwY
Kris Smith's Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ztA3Tf_9mA
Lions hit 11 3's in the first half
Kris Smith's Dunk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ztA3Tf_9mA
Lions hit 11 3's in the first half
Hot-shooting Lions set record in win over Lyon
Sometimes, it's just your night.
That was definitely the case on Thursday as the No. 13 Freed-Hardeman Lions scored 60 first-half points en route to a 100-69 win over visiting Lyon (Ark.) College.
FHU closes the regular season at 22-8 overall and 13-3 in conference, setting a new program record for conference wins in a season. The previous record of 12 was established during the 1997-98 season - the only year that the Lions have made it to the national tournament.The game was close for its first four minutes, with the Scots trailing 13-11 after a Brandon Cowart 3-pointer. But then the floodgates opened.
For FHU, outscoring Lyon 47-20 while making 8-of-13 from 3-point range during the run. For the first half, Freed-Hardeman shot an amazing 70.6 percent from the field and 61.1 percent from behind the arc to build a 60-31 lead after Anthony Sampson's 28-footer beat the buzzer.
FHU cooled off a bit in the second half but the damage was already done as the Lions cruised to the win and clinched a second place finish in the TranSouth Conference regular season standings.
Logan Greer scored a career-high 21 points, 16 in the first half, while making 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Zack Frey added 18 points while Shun Trevillian and Jesse Moulton each scored 11. Trevillian also handed out nine assists against no turnovers.
The Lions now prepare for the TranSouth Conference tournament that begins next week. FHU will play in Henderson on Thursday at 7:00 PM against Bethel.
That was definitely the case on Thursday as the No. 13 Freed-Hardeman Lions scored 60 first-half points en route to a 100-69 win over visiting Lyon (Ark.) College.
FHU closes the regular season at 22-8 overall and 13-3 in conference, setting a new program record for conference wins in a season. The previous record of 12 was established during the 1997-98 season - the only year that the Lions have made it to the national tournament.The game was close for its first four minutes, with the Scots trailing 13-11 after a Brandon Cowart 3-pointer. But then the floodgates opened.
For FHU, outscoring Lyon 47-20 while making 8-of-13 from 3-point range during the run. For the first half, Freed-Hardeman shot an amazing 70.6 percent from the field and 61.1 percent from behind the arc to build a 60-31 lead after Anthony Sampson's 28-footer beat the buzzer.
FHU cooled off a bit in the second half but the damage was already done as the Lions cruised to the win and clinched a second place finish in the TranSouth Conference regular season standings.
Logan Greer scored a career-high 21 points, 16 in the first half, while making 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Zack Frey added 18 points while Shun Trevillian and Jesse Moulton each scored 11. Trevillian also handed out nine assists against no turnovers.
The Lions now prepare for the TranSouth Conference tournament that begins next week. FHU will play in Henderson on Thursday at 7:00 PM against Bethel.
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