LEBANON, Tenn. — After claiming the No. 1 ranking, the Freed-Hardeman University Lions stumbled in league play against the Cumberland University Phoenix in an 89-79 loss.
The game started well enough for the Lions (19-3, 4-2 MSC) with
Jayson Nixon and
Geraldo Lane teaming up with layups. The Phoenix would battle back with six unanswered points.
Makai Vassell netted a layup at 16:42 to knot the game 9-9. From there it was a story of runs for Cumberland, scoring nine unanswered points before a layup from
Brian Carter put the Lions back on the board. CU; however, continued their 16-2 run to storm out to a 22-11 lead. Nixon added another 3-pointer at 7:14 with
Sam Powell's 3-ball narrowing the CU lead to eight.
Jordan Stephens' free throw ended the first half with the Lions trailing 37-28.
After a relatively low-scoring first half with a combined 65 points, both teams found the hoop to combine for 103 points in the second half. The Lions would narrow the Cumberland (10-10, 3-2 MSC) lead to two possessions with back-to-back layups from
Peyton Law, but for every basket the Lions scored, the Phoenix answered. FHU battled back with Lane's layup opening a run with Nixon's layup setting the score at 53-50 in favor of the hosts. Cumberland then bounced back to score six straight points, then kept the Lions at bay until the 89-79 final.
The Lions were 4-23 from deep while the Phoenix were 7-14. Though they only used two players from their bench, CU had five players in double digits. Cumberland were 28-37 from the charity stripe while the Lions were 15-20.
Geraldo Lane led FHU's offense with 16 points, followed closely by
Jordan Stephens' 15 points.
Peyton Law nearly snagged a double-double with 14 points and a team-leading nine rebounds.
Phil Horton was the last Lion with double figures, going 5-7 from the floor to help him to 13 points.
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Up Next
The Lions will look to bounce back in the second half of the Mid-South slate, starting with a trip to visit the Tigers of Campbellsville on February 6 with a 6:30 p.m. start.
