FHU Athletics
PANAMA CITY, Fla. — The NAIA’s marquee matchup of the day featured the No. 7 Freed-Hardeman University Lions against the No. 4 Arizona Christian University Firestorm. Despite having four players foul out, FHU emerged from the heavyweight bout with an 84-76 victory.
The Lions (9-1) landed the first blows with Peyton Law and Makai Vassell hitting back-to-back jumpers. Jordan Stephens joined with the first 3-pointer of the game at 14:17 to give the Lions a 12-5 lead. The Firestorm drew within two possessions at 8:43, but Jayson Nixon extended the Lion lead with a 3-pointer before Stephens buried his second triple of the half to give FHU a seven-point edge. Though ACU started the 0-6 from long range, the deep threat was on FHU’s mind with the Firestorm averaging 8.7 made 3-pointers per game. Those triples began to fall in the final five minutes of the opening half, with the one at 1:30 completing the comeback and giving ACU a 28-27 lead. Thankfully for the Lions, Nixon hit a free throw and Phil Horton completed a steal and score to give FHU a 30-28 lead at halftime.
Freed-Hardeman opened the second half on a tear, with Law tallying a 3-pointer before Stephens’ back-to-back triples was chased by a dunk from Law to spark a 9-0 run for the Lions ending with FHU leading 46-33. With both teams in the bonus early, the final 10 minutes proved a free-throw contest with FHU attempting 26 free throws and Arizona Christian (9-1) attempting 24. The difference was the Lions making 25 of the their attempts with the Firestorm converting just 19 in the second half. Nixon was a cool 13-13 from the charity stripe in the half before Horton’s free throws with 15 ticks sealing the 84-76 victory.
Though ACU played three more players than FHU, the Lions tallied 26 bench points to the Firestorm’s 21.
Peyton Law again led FHU’s offense by tallying 24 points while Jayson Nixon’s 14-15 afternoon from the free-throw line helped him to 19 points. Jordan Stephens went 4-5 from long range to help him to 14 points while Phil Horton chipped in with 10. Law led the defense as well with seven rebounds and four steals.
The Lions will enjoy a Thanksgiving holiday before visiting Kingsport, Tennessee for another trip to The Show. FHU takes on Indiana University East on November 30 at 11:00 a.m. before a contest against Reinhardt (Ga.) at 11:45 on December 1.
FHU fans will get to see the Lions in action at home again on December 10 for a meeting with Tougaloo (Miss.) with a 6 p.m. tip.