Lions gut out win over Mid-Continent, head to TSAC finals

After an all-around team effort tonight, the Freed-Hardeman Lions will get another crack at making history.

The Lions fought back from a nine-point deficit in the second half, outscoring Mid-Continent (Ky.) University by 16 points over the last 13:30 to post a 98-91 win over the Cougars in the TranSouth Conference semifinals.

In doing so, FHU became the only TranSouth team to beat MCU on its home floor this season.

The win means that Freed-Hardeman advances to its second TranSouth Conference championship game in as many years and will travel to face the team that defeated them there last season, No. 11 Union (Tenn.) University.

And an upset that took place in Chicago just moments before FHU closed out tonight's win puts more on the line in that game than a chance at program's first conference championship.

There's also a bid to the national tournament hanging in the balance for the Lions.

St. Xavier's win over Robert Morris most likely eliminated Freed-Hardeman from receiving an at-large bid to the tournament, meaning the Lions must defeat Union to receive the lone automatic bid from the TranSouth Conference.

That's what made tonight's win all the more important, though the Lions didn't know it until afterward.

After building an early nine-point lead, FHU began to fall victim to foul trouble with Zack Frey, Logan Greer and Ken Bingham all picking up two fouls in the first half. With a shallow bench in the post, Lion coach Jason Shelton had little choice but to go with a lineup that featured its tallest player at 6-foot-4 in order to keep any of Frey, Greer or Bingham from getting a third foul.

The calculated risk worked.

Despite Mid-Continent getting a significant size advantage of the last seven minutes of the half, the Cougars could only gain four points on the Lions as the teams went into halftime tied at 47.

The Cougars, though, began to pull away early in the second half. FHU made only three of its first 10 shots from the floor while MCU scored on seven of its first eight possessions of the half to open it on a 17-8 run and take a 64-55 lead with 13:45 to play.

But Freed-Hardeman answered with six straight points to set the stage for the half-minute that Shelton said changed the game.

After a basket by MCU's Donovan Willis, Anthony Sampson nailed a 3-pointer and followed with an acrobatic shot in the lane 20 seconds later to erase a five-point deficit and tie the game at 68-68 with 9:20 left. It was the starting point for a 21-4 run that saw the Lions go ahead by 12 points with 3:31 to play.

The Cougars began fouling shortly thereafter to stop the clock, and FHU connected on 13-of-18 free throws in the final 2:30 to make a late push by Mid-Continent come up a little short. MCU got within five points on a Joshua Woodley 3-pointer with :16 left, but Bingham hit 1-of-2 from the line and David Gratton missed a 3-pointer with :11 left that would have made it a one-possession game.

The five misses from the line near the end of the game were the only free throws that were off the mark for FHU, which made its first 23 attempts from the foul line and finished 36-of-41 for the game.

The Lions also got big nights from four players who normally aren't counted on for scoring.

Sampson, who was coming off a 1-for-8 shooting performance on Thursday, scored a career-high 16 points while hitting 4-of-5 shots from the floor and 3-of-4 from 3-point range. Vince Barnes scored a career high 13 points for the second straight game while grabbing a team-leading six rebounds.

Kirtiss Brown, who has battled an ankle injury since January, had a season-high 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and Brian Pearson nailed two big 3-pointers in the first half on his way to nine points.

Their performances helped make up for a rough outside shooting night from Bingham, Greer and Jesse Moulton, who combined to shoot just 1-of-16 from behind the arc. Bingham, however, made 15-of-16 from the foul line on his way to posting a team-high 17 points.

Zack Frey also had 14 points for Freed-Hardeman, which shot 47.5 percent from the floor for the game.

The Lions face Union at 7:00 PM on Tuesday night at Union's Fred Delay Gymnasium, where the Bulldogs beat FHU 105-78 for the conference title last season.