JaQuan Lax/Men's Basketball Point Guard | Freed-Hardeman University
JaQuan Lax/Men's Basketball Point Guard | Freed-Hardeman University
If anyone was unsure about the Freed-Hardeman University Lions jumping from unranked to No. 19, those reservations were quashed as the Lions toppled the No. 2 Thomas More (Ky.) University Saints 88-59 Thursday night.
Extending their win streak to 10, Freed-Hardeman (11-2, 8-0 MSC) began the game shakily, missing their first five shots with Thomas More putting five points on the board to take an early 5-0 lead. Finally, at 16:16, JaQuan Lax's 3-pointer going FHU's offense rolling before a steal and a score from Lax would restart the game at 5-5 with 15:48 left in the half. Thomas More would make a pair of shots to retake the lead, but after JJ Wheat's layup to give FHU an 11-0 advantage, the Lions did not look back.
The men in maroon would make their next five shots, while on the other side of the floor, Thomas More (9-2, 6-2 MSC) missed their next five. After trailing by one point at 13:10, by 9:48 the Lions had jumped ahead to an 11-point advantage with the Lions' 14-0 run setting the score at 21-10. Reentering the roster after a few games mending an injury, Brandon Thomas hit back-to-back jumpers in the middle of another big scoring charge by FHU - this time with 13 unanswered points. In the span of a little over 10 minutes, Freed-Hardeman would go on a 27-9 run to close out the half. Geraldo Lane's layup sent the teams to their respective locker rooms with FHU leading 38-24.
Coming back from intermission, the TMU shooters put five unanswered points on the board before Lane and Peyton Law slammed home a pair of dunks to reignite the FHU offense. The Lions forced 12 turnovers in the game and made the Saints pay for each of them, tallying 27 of their points off of turnovers. After one of those turnovers was forced by Lax, the freshman put in a layup followed by back-to-back 3-pointers. After an answering triple from the Saints, Thomas's points in the paint pushed FHU to their lead to 25 points with 3:35 left in the game. On the back of Hunter Scurlock's late buckets and Ryley McClaran's free throws, FHU would end the statement victory up by 29 points, earning the win 88-59.
Six FHU Lions ended the game in double figures, with JaQuan Lax's 15-point night leading the charge. Hunter Scurlock followed with 13 points, while Geraldo Lane and Ryley McClaran both tallied 11 points. JJ Wheat had 12 points and Brandon Thomas bucketed 10. As a team, the Lions shot 57.9% from the field while holding their opponents to a 43.2% night.
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