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.
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