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.