KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The No. 1 seed Freed-Hardeman University Lions competed in another nailbiter in the quarterfinals of the 2026 NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship on Saturday. Getting a 79-78 win over the two-seed Arizona Christian University Firestorm, FHU set the program record for most wins in a single season with 32 while securing their third consecutive Fab Four appearance.
The first five minutes of the game was a 3-point contest with Freed-Hardeman (32-1) scoring three straight: two from
Caleb Thomas and one from
Jailen Anderson, while ACU added two in the same span of time.
Blake Dean joined the party with a triple at 12:05 with
Rodney Henderson's free throw giving the Lions their largest lead of the half at seven points. The Firestorm were able to stay in the half with timely free throws while FHU had layups from
Lane Lauderbaugh and
Rodney Henderson.
Rico Sain bucketed the final field goal of the half at 4:11 before the Firestorm scored five points in the last 44 seconds to hand the Lions a 36-34 halftime deficit.
Arizona Christian (25-8) rallied out of the locker room, getting a steal and a score before expanding their lead to seven points. Familiar with battling back, the Lions leaned on Lauderbaugh and Sain to score the next 11 points unanswered with Sain's free throw at 13:03 giving FHU back the lead at 47-46. Both teams were sent to the charity stripe frequently, with the teams combining for 43 free throws in the second half alone. ACU would score seven unanswered points to enter the final minute of play trailing by two points. Three made free throws for the Lions kept the game out of reach of the Firestorm, with a game-winning 3-pointer falling short with five seconds left before FHU eked out the 79-78 win.
Both teams connected for nine 3-pointers in the game, while Arizona Christian went 35-for-40 from the free-throw line. FHU forced 23 turnovers in the win.
Rico Sain led FHU's offense with a 21-point effort, followed by
Lane Lauderbaugh's 10 points.
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Up Next
The winners of the Naismith Quadrant, the Lions will vie for a spot in the national championship game against the eight-seeded Benedictine University Mesa (Ariz.) Redhawks, winners of the Cramer Quadrant, on March 23 at 5:00 p.m.
