The Freed-Hardeman Lions have had some big wins this season, but perhaps none as important and impressive as tonight's win over the No. 6 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) RedHawks.
The RedHawks (16-1, 4-1) came into the night as one of only two unbeaten teams in the NAIA along with No. 1 LSU-Shreveport. When they left Henderson, though, they were no longer able to stake that claim.
The Lions (12-7, 4-1) got off to a strong start in the second half, then held off a RedHawk rally to pick up a 94-85 win on Thursday night in the FHU Sports Center. The win keeps FHU a half-game behind Union (Tenn.) University for the top spot in the TranSouth Conference ratings.
The first half was evenly fought throughout the entire 20 minutes, with nine ties and eight lead changes before Anthony Sampson's floater in the lane gave FHU a 36-34 halftime lead.
The Lions came out of the locker room as the aggressor and opened the second half on a 12-4 run. Eight of those points came from Brian Pearson, who drained a pair of 3-pointers from the right corner and picked up a lay-up on a hustle play after chasing down a loose ball.
Moments later, Freed-Hardeman gave itself a bigger cushion thanks to a 13-4 run capped off by a Cedric Austin 3-pointer to extend the lead to 61-47 with 11:58 to play.
As it turned out, it was a good thing that cushion was there.
The RedHawks regrouped and fought back, outscoring FHU 15-4 over the next four-plus minutes to pull back within three points on a James Justice 3-pointer. The Lions maintained their composure and pushed the lead back up to 10 points on a 3-pointer by Kyle Teichmann with 3:35 to play and again on a Teichmann basket at the 1:40 mark.
But Justice, a junior transfer from Memphis, almost single-handedly kept the RedHawks in the game scoring his team's next nine points on a pair of 3-pointers and three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt to get MMC back within four points with just under a minute to play. After an FHU turnover, Derwin Gage hit one of two free throws to again turn the contest into a one-possession game with 34 seconds left.
Sampson, however, calmly drained both ends of a double bonus after being fouled on the inbounds pass to put Freed-Hardeman up by five. That was followed by a big defensive play by Austin, who got his hand on the ball while Justice was dribbling and called a timeout after diving on the loose ball.
Sampson again made a pair of free throws and then came up with a big defensive play of his own, stripping the ball away from LaQuantis Stewart after Stewart grabbed an offensive rebound in the lane. Two more free throws gave FHU a nine-point lead and effectively sealed the win.
Teichmann, who earlier in the week wasn't expected to play tonight's game, posted his sixth double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Sampson added 16 points and seven assists while Austin scored 17 and Pearson contributed 14.
Justice finished with 25 points to lead all scorers, with 20 of those coming in the game's final seven minutes.
The Lions will play their fourth game in eight days on Saturday as they travel to face Mid-Continent (Ky.) University at 4:00 PM.
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