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.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment