Final Push Leads Freed-Hardeman to First Red Banner in Program History

Mar 26, 2024

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – [Box Score] [Bracket] The 86^th annual NAIA Men’s Basketball National Championship concluded on Tuesday night with a hotly anticipated game between a pair of No. 1-seeds in Langston (Okla.) and Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.). Freed-Hardeman picked up the massive win 71-67 over Langston to take home the program’s first-ever Red Banner.

Championship night was rocking from the start inside historic Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City. Through the first seven minutes of play, both FHU and LU traded buckets from the tip as the fan bases of both institutions were loud and proud.

Just five-minutes into the game, Freed-Hardeman had a big block on a three attempt by Toru Dean, but the Miami native snagged the blocked ball out of the air and sank a second three-attempt with tenths of a second left on the shot clock.

As the contest entered the second media stoppage of the first half, Langston was 3-for-3 from the floor and pushed its lead to 20-16. The FHU Lions, however, did not go away and clawed their way back to trail by just two points in the following 12 minutes.

As both teams began to settle into the championship match-up, the pace of play began to settle down as well. With just over four minutes remaining in the opening frame, both teams were nearly equal across the board. LU held the narrow lead in field goal percentage, 46.4% to 45.8%, and three-point shooting percentage, 40% to 33.3%. It was the Langston defense down the stretch of the first half, however, that stole the show. The stingy Langston squad held Freed-Hardeman to long possessions and forced shots.

Langston closed the first 20 minutes on an 8-0 run and held a nine-point, 40-31 lead into the break.

Though both teams shot similarly from the floor in the first half, the Langston marksmen were lethal from three-point land, going 7-for-17 from beyond the arc.

Langston started the final period right where they left off. The team from Oklahoma quickly spread the floor and went end to end on a dunk and continued to pressure the squad from Tennessee.

Through 25 minutes of championship basketball, FHU and LU were tied three different times, and the game saw eight lead changes. Freed-Hardeman slowly began to close the margin, going on a 6-0 run while holding LU scoreless for over three and a half minutes, cutting the deficit to seven.

Langston’s scoring drought ended as Cortez Mosley hit a tough jumper on the inbound pass, pushing its lead back to nine. FHU had a contested look from deep with just under 12 minutes to play, which would have cut its margin to two points, but were unable to connect as it continued to trail 48-43.

Freed-Hardeman stayed persistent on both ends of the floor, putting together a 14-5 run that lasted nearly ten minutes of play, to trail by three. FHU quickly turned their deficit of three points, into a tied game at 50-all with just under eight minutes to play as JJ Wheat hit the shot putting the FHU fans on their feet as the game headed into the under-ten media break.

Freed-Hardeman continued to battle on the defensive end of the floor with the game tied at 59, despite not having a made field goal in the last 3:39 of play as the game clock clicked under five. Entering the final 3:53 of play, LU was shooting 42.9% from the floor, 36.8% beyond the arc, and was 10-of-16 at the foul line. FHU was shooting 47.6% from the field, 21.4% from deep, and converted on 16-of-22 free throws.

Langston’s defense continued to pay dividends down the stretch, earning big stops, allowing them to collect much-needed baskets on the offensive end to break the tie, and lead by four with 2:15 left to play. LU continued to be strong on both ends of the court as it strung together a 7-0 run in that same time frame to lead by six, 66-60.

As the contest dipped under a minute to play, FHU quickly closed the margin back to a one-point game, 67-66. On the Langston in-bounds pass, Peyton Law intercepted it giving FHU a chance to take the lead. After a foul in the lane, which sent JJ Wheat to the line for a chance to tie the game or take the lead; he converted on both shots to put his team up by one with little time left.

Wheat grabbed the game-winning block for FHU with five seconds left on the clock then proceeded to make the layup on the other end giving FHU their first NAIA National Championship win in program history by a score of 71-67.

Overall, in the 2024 NAIA Men’s Basketball championship game, Freed-Hardeman shot 47% from the floor, 20% from deep, and 73% at the charity stripe. Langston posted shooting percentages of 42% from the floor, 36% from beyond the arc, and 62% at the free-throw line. LU outrebounded FHU 39-27 while notching 12, second-chance points, 17 points off the bench, and 26 points in the paint. FHU scored nine, second-chance points, 26 points off the bench, and 38 points in the paint. In the 40 minutes of play, the teams saw a total of 13 lead changes and eight ties.

Following the game, the All-Tournament Team was announced:

All-Tournament Team

Javan Buchanan – Indiana Wesleyan

Samaje Morgan – College of Idaho

Jake O’Neil - College of Idaho

Jakob Gibbs – Grace (Ind.)

Elijah Malone – Grace (Ind.)

Anthony Roy – Langston (Okla.)

Cortez Mosley – Langston (Okla.)

JJ Wheat – Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)

Hunter Scurlock – Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)

Quan Lax – Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)