HENDERSON, Tenn. - The Freed-Hardeman Lion basketball team passed its first real test of the season on Saturday afternoon with a 79-77 win over No. 20 Auburn Montgomery (Ala.) in the FHU Sports Center in the final game of the LionBacker Classic.
It was the first of eight games in FHU's non-conference schedule against teams ranked in the preseason top 25.
The No. 18 Lions (2-0) used a 10-2 run to build their largest lead of the game at 26-16 with 10:57 left in the first half. But the Senators, a team known for physical and aggressive defense, began to cause problems for FHU on the offensive end. Freed-Hardeman shot just 4-of-16 from the field for the rest of the half while AUM turned the 10-point deficit into a 41-38 halftime lead.
The Senators scored the first four points on the second half to extend their lead to 45-38, but 3-pointers on back-to-back-to-back trips by Jesse Moulton, Logan Greer, and Anthony Sampson helped FHU pull within two points at 52-50 with 16:13 left. After two AUM buckets, the Lions followed with a quick 7-0 burst to take the lead for the first time in the second half with 12:17 remaining.
From there, the teams would trade buckets until Freed-Hardeman's 8-0 run - highlighted by Sampson going coast-to-coast for a layup - put FHU up by six at 67-61 with 5:28 to play.
AUM fought back and answered with a 10-3 run of their own to retake the lead on Kip Small's traditional three-point play with 3:13 to go. But Ken Bingham drilled a deep 3-pointer off right wing after the Senator defense sagged off of him, then stole the inbound pass and made a pair of free throws to give FHU a lead it would not surrender. Auburn-Montgomery's Charles Perona sank two free throws with :19 left to make it a 79-77 game, but the Lions were able to play keep-away from the Senator defenders for the remaining time to seal the win.
Bingham and Zack Frey each scored 18 points for the Lions, while Sampson added a career-high 13. Frey also had nine rebounds to finish just shy of a double-double. AUM shot 50.8 percent to FHU's 44.1 percent, but the Lions made up for the difference by going 11-of-25 from behind the arc.
Freed-Hardeman heads to Nashville, Tenn., on Thursday for its annual exhibition game with former rival and NCAA Division I opponent Lipscomb (Tenn.) University at 7:00 PM.
Notes: This was the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The FHU and AUM women's programs have met three times, twice in the national tournament...Zack Frey moved into 18th place on the all-time scoring list at FHU, passing Tony Shell with tonight's 18 point performance...One night after getting 53 points from the bench, the Lion reserves combined for 28 points tonight. Sampson had 13 of those points...AUM only got eight points from its bench...Frey and Bingham combined to shoot 25 of FHU's 26 free throws.
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