Henderson, Tenn.-- Freed-Hardeman pressure too much for CU to overcome on the road, Phoenix drop 88-72. 

The Lions had four players shoot in double-digits, led by Ryley McClaran with 21. The Lions shot 54% from the field while also picking up 11 three pointers, six of which came from McClaran. 

Jordan Stephens had another solid night for the Phoenix with a game-high 23 points, going 6-7 from behind the arc. Ty’Reek Johnson chipped in 12 points and Nassir Coleman led with seven rebounds.

Despite CU’s strong initial few minutes, it turned out to be an ugly first half for the Phoenix as they faced a seventeen point deficit on two occasions. The Phoenix were outrebounded by ten as CU’s leading rebounder in Coleman sat out most of the half after picking up some early fouls. 

Cumberland controlled the speed early on with an immediate 4-0 run and a forced turnover. The Phoenix kept the Lions scoreless for a four minute span until a technical foul on CU’s part gave an easy point to Freed and ignited an 11-0 scoring run.

The Lion pressure was relentless from then on, as they forced three turnovers in under a minute and expanded their lead to five points. McClaran put up back-to-back threes to spread it out to eight.

CU struggled to create many scoring opportunities as Freed maintained all of the momentum and headed into the break with a fourteen point lead at 41-35. 

Freed rolled into the second half with all of the confidence and momentum. They shot 60% from the field in thirty minutes of play and even doubled CU’s score at one point, 70-35.

The Lions almost immediately pushed it back out to seventeen points with a three from Peyton Law and kept the Phoenix scoreless for nearly five minutes of play. 

Tre Vaughn got Cumberland going on a five point run but McClaran interrupted the small spurt of energy with his sixth three of the game with nine minutes to play.

Cumberland went on a late 9-0 run to close out the game and cut the deficit down, during which Stephens put away two from outside the arc.  

Freed-Hardeman ran away with the victory 88-72 and spread their clean conference record to 6-0.

Cumberland moves to a 6-5 overall, 3-3 conference record. The Phoenix will be back at home this Saturday for another big conference matchup versus Bethel. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 pm.