Matt Barker, Sports Information Director

HENDERSON, Tenn. - The No. 3 Lion basketball team will look to pick up their tenth win of the season tonight as they visit Park (Mo.) University for a 7:30 PM matchup at the Breckon Sports Center in Parkville, Mo.

FHU (9-1, 3-0 AMC) enters tonight's matchup coming off a convincing 106-76 win over Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) University on Saturday, December 5. Seven FHU players reached double figures in the victory as the Lions picked up their ninth win of the season.

The Lions led for a majority of the first half as they would go on a 9-0 run to extend their lead to 12 with 14 minutes remaining in the first half. Orlando Bass led the Lions in first half scoring with 11 points followed by Evan Forhetz with nine. The Lions shot an impressive 51 percent from the field and 57 percent from behind the arc in the first half compared to Hannibal-LaGrange (3-3, 2-1 AMC) who shot 48 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range. The first half saw three lead changes with FHU's largest lead being 15 as they closed the half up 48-33.

Although Orlando Bass was the only Lion player to reach double figures in the first half with 11, the second half would be a different story as six other FHU players would join him as the Lions shot 63 percent from the field and 61 percent from behind the arc in the second half.

Orlando Bass continued to lead the Lions in the second half as he finished with 22 points while Evan Forhetz nearly reached a double-double as he put up 15 points and dished out eight assists. Trevor Randolph shot an impressive 4-of-4 from three point range and finished the game with 14 points while Isaiah Harrison finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Austin Dempsey had 10 points and four assists.

The bench also performed well for the Lions in the second half as Grant Teichmann went 6-for-8 from the field and put up 14 points while Sean Edwards went 5-for-7 and finished with 11. The largest lead for the Lions in the game was 35 as FHU would extend their lead with just under six minutes to play in the game. The Lions would finish the game up 30 as they cruised to a 106-76 victory over the Trojans.

Park University (5-3, 3-0 AMC) enters tonight's matchup coming off a 72-58 victory over Lyon (Ark.) College on Saturday, December 5 to pick up their third conference win of the season. Junior Xavielle Brown led the Trojans in total offense with 24 points as he went 12-of-13 from the free throw line. Mylin Jordan also contributed off the bench as he went 7-for-12 from the field and finished with 20 points.

Although the Pirates shot just 42.9 percent from the field compared to Lyon, who shot 44.2 percent, Park was able force 17 turnovers, which led to easy buckets on the other end of the floor. Park, on the other hand, protected the ball well as they turned the ball over just nine times throughout the game as they picked up their fifth win of the season and third win in conference play.

INSIDE THE SERIES

The Lions faced Park University twice last season and defeated the Pirates on both occassions. In the first match up between the two schools last season on December 4, 2014, the Lions hosted the Pirates and came away with an 83-64 victory. FHU connected on 17-of-27 attempts from behind the arc and used that hot shooting to pick up their seventh win of the season.

The game opened with a series of scoring runs, first an 11-2 run by the Lions to start the game and then a 14-2 run by Park to take a three-point lead. Freed-Hardeman then rolled off 11 straight points and followed that with another 11-2 run to close the half. The Lions made five consecutive 3-pointers in the midst of each of the scoring runs.

Freed-Hardeman took a 42-25 lead into the half and kept pouring it on from there. After the Pirates cut the lead to 15 early in the second half, FHU outscored Park 13-4 over the next three minutes behind a trio of 3-pointers. The Lions led by as many as 24 points before Park closed the gap to 19 by the final horn.

Ben Meis led the Lions in total offense as he went 7-of-11 from 3-point range and finished with 21 points. Cameron Lewis added 20 while Evan Forhetz had 12, both going 4-of-6 from behind the arc. Forhetz had nine assists in the victory.

In the second match up between the two schools on January 29, the Lions traveled to Parkville, Mo. and picked up a 75-70 victory in the tight matchup. The upset-minded Park Pirates came out hot, knocking down seven of its first nine shots to take an early 14-6 lead in the contest. The Pirates led by as many as 10 in the half, going up 29-19 after a John Kotsanos basket at the 6:50 mark.

The Lions would respond with a 9-0 run of their own to get within a point as Park led 38-37 at the half.

The second half saw four lead changes before Freed-Hardeman took it for good on a Ben Meis basket with 16:52 left. However, the Lions never felt comfortable with the lead as Park would respond to a majority of FHU's scoring runs throughout the game. The Pirates had four more chances to trim the lead as the Lions didn't score in the final two-and-a-half minutes, but Park missed three cosecutive 3-point attempts with less than a minute to play as FHU was able to hang on for the 75-70 win.

Ben Meis led Freed-Hardeman in total offense with 18 points while Evan Forhetz had 14 and Cameron Lewis added 12. Pirate forward Mylin Jordan led all scorers with 25 points.

The Lions will look to continue their hot start to the season tonight as they face a tough Park University team, who is receiving votes. The Lions will tip off at 7:30 PM following the women's game scheduled for 5:30 PM at the Breckon Sports Center in Parkville, Mo.

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