Bethel defeats No. 14 Freed-Hardeman
MCKENZIE, Tenn. – It took two overtimes but the Bethel Wildcats took down No. 14 Freed-Hardeman Saturday afternoon beating the Lions 95-88.
The Lions led 32-21 at the half. Trailing 21-17, FHU used a 15-0 run to grab the eleven point lead at the break. Bethel went scoreless for over eight minutes allowing Freed to make the big run.
FHU's Brandon Thomas chalked up eight points in the half. Hunter Scurlock had six points. J.J. Wheat and Peyton Law had five points each. JaQuan Lax had four points. Dawson Bailey and Phil Horton had two points each. The Lions shot 48%.
Latrell Carter led Bethel with six points off the bench. Querrion Gadson had four points. Connor Guthrie and Tyler Neely had two points each. Jose Nazario, Keyshawn Kennedy and Dimitrije Stojanovic each had two points off the bench. Brennon Marsh tacked on one point from the free throw line. The Wildcats shot 43 percent in the half.
After FHU scored the first six points to begin the second half, the Wildcats stormed back to outscore the Lions 47-30 to send the game to overtime. Gadson had 18 points in the half. Latrell Carter had seven points. Neely and Stojanovic had six points each. Guthrie and Nazario had four points. A.J. Burnett had two points at the line.
The Wildcats tied the game (45-45) for the first time at the eleven minute mark when Stojanvic muscled his way through the paint for two points. The Lions and Wildcats were neck to neck to the last minute. The Wildcats trailed 60-61 when Gadson drained a 3-pointer to take the lead. Thomas and Wheat tacked on two points each for the Lions for a 65-63 lead. With 20 seconds left on the clock Gadson drained two free throws. The Lions quickly answered back with a three by Scurlock. With just seconds left on the clock, Neely scored a buzzer-beating three pointer to tie the game at 68 and send the teams into overtime.
During the first overtime, the teams were still close. Law kept the Lions in the game with six points. Wheat tacked on four points. Scurlock and Thomas had two points each.
The Wildcats were led by Gadson and Neely who each had six points. Nazario tacked on two points from the free throw line. Gadson tied the game at 82 with seven seconds left on the clock sending the teams into another overtime period.
Scurlock scored three points for the Lions. Thomas had a three-point play in the paint.
The Wildcats held the Lions to just six points during the final five minutes.
The 'Cats were lifted to victory by their free throw shooting in the last five minutes. Bethel went 7-for-10 from the foul line during the second overtime. Carter had four points. Nazario had four points. Guthrie and Gadson had two points from the line each. Neely tacked on one point from the line. Gadson had a career and game high 30 points. Neely had 15 tallies while Carter scored 17 points. Nazario finished with 12 points. Thomas led Freed with 25 points.
The Wildcats shot 58% overall and went 25-31 from the free throw line. Bethel earned their ninth victory in the conference and defeated the number 14 ranked team in the nation. The Cats moved to 13-10 overall and 9-9 in the Mid-South Conference.
FHU shot 55% overall. The Lions fell to 17-7 and 13-4 in the league.
There were 12 lead changes and 20 ties in the classic.
Coach Jeff Britt was proud of and for his squad. "I am so proud of these guys. We let things get away from us at the end of the first half but we fought back and it was because of effort and desire. We shot 57 percent and simply made some great shots, especially down the stretch. This was a nice win for us and sets the stage for us to finish strong hopefully in this tough league."
Bethel travels to No. 22 Thomas More Thursday. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m.
Recap by SID staff member, Erin Douglas