HENDERSON — Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time since November 11, the No. 12 Freed-Hardeman University Lions basketball team leaned on the home court advantage by topping the Fisk (Tenn.) University Bulldogs 93-54.

Freed-Hardeman (8-2, 0-0 MSC) was off and running by scoring eight straight points from Quan Lax and Ryley McClaran in the latter's first appearance of the season. FHU's defense forced Fisk to miss their first six shots of the contest, with the Bulldogs' first field goal coming at 13:46 while the Lions held an 11-4 lead. Sam Powell immediately followed with a triple to give the Lions a 10-point spread. The Bulldogs settled in and answered with a 3-pointer of their own to trail 14-7. From there, the Lions and Bulldogs traded points, with FHU never leading by more that 11 until back-to-back fast break layups from Hunter Scurlock and Lax gave the Lions a 29-16 lead with 3:02 remaining in the half. McClaran and Lax hit late first-half free throws to settle a 35-21 halftime lead.

Devin Tomlinson found his stroke, scoring five straight points to start the second half. Fisk (3-7, 0-2 GCAC) would answer with a jumper, but the FHU offense put up nine unanswered points in a little over 60 seconds. In the middle of the frame, the Lion bench helped put separation between the opponents, with the Lions scoring 14 straight points capped by Dalton Colbert's 3-pointer to give FHU a 78-41 lead. Late points from Powell and Colbert would run out the clock on FHU's 93-54 win.

The Lions forced 15 turnovers, converting those to 18 points, but it was FHU's quick attack that did the most damage. The Lions scored 24 fast break points to the Bulldogs' four. The final field goal percentages showed a massive gulf with Fisk going 33.9% from the floor while FHU was 57.9% as a team.

Quan Lax led all scorers with 22 points, going 8-11 from the floor. Sam Powell netted a career-high 14 points, going 4-6 from long range. Devin Tomlinson rounded off the double-digit scoring with a 10-point night. All 10 Lions to hit the floor recorded at least three points. Geraldo Lane was big on the boards, grabbing 10 rebounds while falling one point shy of a double-double with nine. JJ Wheat had a team-high four assists while sharing the team lead in steals with Peyton Law having both swipe three.
 

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Up Next

The Lions will not be able to make themselves too comfortable at home, immediately hitting the road for three of their next four games. First they will travel to Georgia to face the (RV) Life University Running Eagles on Monday, December 11, before one more home game in 2023, hosting the (RV) Bulldogs of Union (Ky.) College at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 16. The New Year's Classic held in Joliet, Illinois, will wrap up the non-conference slate, first facing East-West (Ill.) University on Saturday, December 30, before a New Year's Eve matchup with the University of St. Francis (Ill.) at 1:00 p.m.