During the first four games of the season, the No. 8 Freed-Hardeman Lions averaged .500 shooting from the floor. Thursday night, FHU shot .370 in their first loss of the season to the Tougaloo (Miss.) College Bulldogs 61-57.
Freed-Hardeman (4-1) and Tougaloo traded scores for the first six minutes of the game with neither team leading by more than two points until Peyton Law’s jumper at 13:30 gave the Lions a 13-9 edge. The Bulldogs would answer with back-to-back triples to reclaim the lead. Exemplifying the wire-to-wire contest, JJ Wheat’s free throw at 1:57 gave the Lions an eight point lead – the largest lead either team would have in the game. Tougaloo would bucket the last six points of the half to make FHU’s halftime lead 27-25.
The hosting Bulldogs (2-2) quickly came out of the locker room to tie the game 29-29, but it wasn’t until a 3-pointer at 12:56 gave Tougaloo their first lead since midway through the first half. FHU’s Sam Powell would bounce back with five quick points, but with every FHU basket was an answering Tougaloo score. Quan Lax’s 3-pointer at 4:41 gave FHU a 50-47 advantage, but it would be the last time the Lions would lead, as Tougaloo would bucket 10 unanswered points to make their largest lead of 57-50 at 1:36. Before the Lions could mount a comeback, time elapsed on the 61-57 loss.
The Lions were out-rebounded 34-26, but bucketed nine points off of turnovers to Tougaloo’s seven.
Quan Lax led all scorers with 19 points, going 10-13 from the charity stripe. JJ Wheat followed with 10 points, with Phil Horton leading FHU’s rebounding effort with seven boards.
