CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – The Tigers faced off against Freed-Hardeman at Powell Athletic Center Thursday night. Campbellsville left the stadium triumphant in an overtime score of 110-104.
The first half was a roller coaster of events.
Jarius Key,
Peyton Broughton,
Cameron Carmical,
Darius Harding, and
Jace Wallace started for the Tigers. Freed-Hardeman won the tip to set the tone. Carmical sunk a three to combat the energy. Harding and Broughton went back-to-back with deep threes to keep pace with the Lions, the scoring evening at 11-11. Seven minutes in, Freed-Hardeman was up 20-13 because of their tight defense and consistent push down the court. The largest lead stood at 31-15 for the Lions over the Tigers with 8:38 left of play in the first half. Wallace was an asset leading the team with an impressive 18 points and seven rebounds. Wallace had a key three to tie up the ball game at 34-34 after a 16-point deficit. The points were a back-and-forth contest until the score showed 43-43. The half ended with the Tigers trailing Freed-Hardeman 47-43.
Campbellsville showed their talent by shooting 58.2 percent from the perimeter. Freed-Hardeman followed close behind standing at 50 percent. The Tigers also stood over the Lions in field goal percentage overall. Campbellsville was 50 percent while Freed-Hardeman tallied a 43.6 percent to end the half. The four-point discrepancy to the Lions could have been due to the Tigers' five turnovers which resulted in six points for Freed-Hardeman.
The second half was a showdown. 12 seconds into the half, Wallace was at the free throw and went 2-2. Key followed Wallace with an under-the-basket bucket. The game was then tied 49-49 with a layup from Wallace. Consecutive three-pointers from Broughton and Wallace gave the Tigers the lead at 55-49. The Lion's defense remained consistent as well as their three-point makes keeping them close to the Tigers. The Lions trailed by two with a 11:49 left in the half. Freed-Hardeman made their two charity shots to tie up the game 66-66. The Lions lead Campbellsville 70-68, but the Tigers evened the score at 72-72. Freed-Hardeman was vacillating between trailing and staying even with the Tigers. Campbellsville had a one-point lead until Malachi DeSousa pulled up a three-point basket making the score 88-84. At a minute left of play, the Lions tied the score 91-91. Wallace's key layup took the lead for the Tigers at 93-91 with 37 seconds on the board. At 21 seconds left, Freed-Hardeman knotted the score at 93-93. Wallace pulled up for a three but was blocked out of bounds into the back court with 2.8 seconds left. The game went into overtime as Broughton missed the potential game-winner.
Into overtime, the Tigers won first possession. Campbellsville was relentless as Wallace went to score a layup, then Wallace produced a Lion turnover for DeSousa to score. Another three points from Wallace and a steal from Broughton allowed Campbellsville to lead 100-94 with two minutes left of overtime. The Tigers were able to keep a several possession lead the rest of the extra time as they closed out the contest 110-104.
Two Campbellsville Tigers earned career highs in tonight's match-up. Wallace recorded a double-double with a career high of 37 points and 13 rebounds and Broughton earned himself 29 points. Key tallied 18 points as De Sousa followed with 14 points.
The Tigers will return to the Powell Athletic Center this Saturday to compete against Bethel University. The game will begin at 4 p.m. ET.
