The Thomas More men’s basketball team (20-6, 14-6) appeared headed to another Mid-South Conference victory for most of the first half.
The Saints built up a 15-point lead at one point taking a 32-27 advantage into halftime. But once the visiting Freed-Hardeman (Tennessee) Lions (18-8, 14-6) went on a 10-0 run early in the second half, the Lions never looked back on their way to a 65-57 win at the Connor Convocation Center on Saturday.
“I’m really proud of the first half,” said Spencer Berlekamp, Thomas More assistant coach. “We made shots. We were able to get to the rim. It was a tough second half. They made some big shots, big plays when they needed to. We missed some assignments. We have to watch film – just little details we have to fix going into next week.”
Thomas More, ranked 16th in the latest NAIA poll, and 22nd-ranked Freed-Hardeman are tied for second in MSC play. Georgetown leads the MSC at 16-4.
Thomas More specifically could not slow down redshirt freshman point guard JaQuon Lax. Lax finished with 22 points making three three-pointers. Junior forward Zach Baugher and freshman point guard JJ Wheat finished with 12 and 11, respectively. Freed-Hardeman outscored Thomas More, 23-8 in points off the bench.
Thomas More also had three players score in double figures. Redshirt sophomore guard Jacob Jones led the Saints with 17 points with redshirt junior guard/forward Reid Jolly scoring 13 and sophomore guard Wyatt Vieth scoring 11.
Thomas More had 16 turnovers to 15 for Freed-Hardeman. But the Lions outscored the Saints, 18-9 off those turnovers recording 10 steals to six for Thomas More.
The Saints won the rebounding battle, 26-24 including a 5-2 advantage on the offensive boards. But Freed-Hardeman outscored Thomas More, 30-22 in the paint and 13-1 in transition.
Thomas More came out of the gate on fire. Redshirt sophomore guard Eli Howard made two free throws to give the Saints a 26-11 lead before Freed-Hardeman scored six straight to trim it to 26-19.
Thomas More extended the lead to 11 twice later in the half including a 32-21 advantage with 2:04 left after redshirt sophomore Jacob Jones hit a free throw. But the Lions scored six straight to trim the margin to five at halftime.
Freed-Hardeman scored the first two buckets of the second half. After Vieth hit a three from the right corner to put Thomas More up 35-31, the Lions scored 11 straight to go up 41-35 before sophomore guard/forward Kyle Ross stopped it with a score.
Thomas More did trim the margin to 51-48. After a Lax score, Freed-Hardeman head coach Drew Stutts received a technical foul. But Thomas More missed both free throws and did not score on its ensuring possession. At the other end, a Freed-Hardeman offensive rebound led to a Lax three-pointer and the Saints came no closer after that.
“It’s a five-point swing,” Berlekamp said. “If we make them, we maybe go down to a tie game. You just have to execute down the stretch. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to.”
Thomas More takes on Shawnee State on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., in the final home game of the regular season.
