KINGSPORT, Tenn. — Opening their weekend in The Show, the No. 6 Freed-Hardeman University Lions turned 16 Indiana University East Red Wolves into 23 points to help lift them to an 82-62 victory.
The Lions (10-1) fell behind early thanks to the 3-point prowess of the Red Wolves. A triple at 16:38 put the Lions behind by a six-point margin.
Peyton Law and
Brian Carter teamed up with scoops and scores before
Ryley McClaran's free throw at 9:23 began a 13-0 run for the Lions ending with five unanswered points from the hand of
Jordan Stephens. During that span, FHU's defense forced a run of 10 consecutive misses from the IUE end of the floor. The points began falling at the end of the frame for the Red Wolves, eventually taking a one-point lead. A set of free throws from
Blake Dean with six seconds remaining helped push FHU into the locker room holding a 33-32 lead.
The Lions dominated the paint to start the second half, scoring 11 unanswered points in the first four minutes of the half to make their lead double digits. Unwilling to go quietly, the IUE (3-4) offense began to hit shots, ith a dunk at 9:04 pulling the Red Wolves within two possessions seeing FHU's lead dwindle to 55-50 with 9:04 to go in the game. Late runs again pushed the Lions to victory, with the Lions dropping nine unanswered points late, five of which came from the charity stripe. Finishing off with a bang, McClaran netted back-to-back 3-pointers with
Makai Vassell wrapping the 82-62 victory with a 3-pointer of his own.
The FHU bench again proved to be game-changing with the Lions scoring 29 bench points to IUE's six despite the Red Wolves playing five men off the pine and FHU having four bench players.
Peyton Law was 10-16 from the floor to drop 20 points for the seventh time this season, including scoring 20+ in five of the last six games.
Jordan Stephens bucketed 15 points while
Ryley McClaran had 11.
Makai Vassell wrapped up his scoring with an even 10 points. Law led with eight rebounds and three steals with
Jayson Nixon leading with three assists.
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Up Next
The Lions wrap up their Fall Break road trip December 1Â against Reinhardt (Ga.) University with an 11:45 a.m. tipoff. FHU returns to the Brewer Sports Center on December 10 at 6:00 p.m. with a date against Tougaloo (Miss.) College.
