Box Score
HENDERSON, Tenn.-The Belhaven men's basketball team lost at 12th ranked Freed-Hardeman Saturday afternoon 83-63. The game was closer than what the final score showed as the Blazers held the lead for the majority of the first half. Freed-Hardeman made a strong run at the end of the opening 20 minutes to take a one point halftime lead and then pulled away in the second half for the 20 point victory.

Belhaven (1-1) exploded out of the gate on an 11-3 run in the opening four minutes of the contest. Junior Deon Bedford capped the initial point surge with on a put back off a missed shot by senior guard Jordan Butts. With 10:24 to play in the first half, the Blazers enjoyed what would be their largest lead of the night at 19-10. Freshman forward Raheem Hogan bagged a pair of free throws giving Belhaven the nine point edge.

At that point, the Lions began to chip away at the deficit and took the lead for the first time at 22-21 with 4:41 left on the first half clock. Hogan sent Belhaven in front again momentarily on a field at the 3:25 mark of the first half, but two free throws by Reginald Gilmore with 11 seconds until the buzzer gave Freed-Hardeman (1-0) the lead for good at 24-23.

Belhaven managed to stay close through the first 10 minutes of the second half, never trailing by more than five points, but a 17-5 run by the Lions turned the tide of the game. Freed-Hardeman led by just three points (42-39) after junior Curt Hall knocked down a basket with 11:56 left in the game to bring the Blazers within one possession. Kyle Teichman, who ended up leading the Lions with 19 points, answered the Hall bucket and ignited the run for the Lions. Freed-Hardeman kept Belhaven at arm's length the rest of the afternoon and pulled away for the 20 point win.

Belhaven had four players score in double figures led by Butts with 20 points. Butts was a perfect 7 for 7 at the free throw line and filled up three triples leading to his game high point total. Butts was followed by Deon Bedford with 13 points while Hall and Jonathan Ratliff each had 10 points. Ratliff had seven rebounds to lead the Blazers on the glass while Terence Stringfellow, Chris Cofield, Butts, and Bedford each had four rebounds.

Belhaven hit 33.3 percent of their field goals (20-60), 38.9 percent of their three point attempts (7-18), and 57.1 percent of their free throws (16-28).

Freed-Hardeman was led by Teichmann with 19 points and Orlando Bass chipped in with 13 points off the bench. Chandler Mack and Daniel Gravatt added 11 points and 10 points respectively to round out the double digit scorers. Mack and Teichmann were at the top of the scorebook in rebounds as well with each pulling down a game eight in the Lions season opener.

As a team, Freed-Hardeman had a solid game from field connecting on 52.5 percent of their field goals (32-61). The Lions tossed in 36.8 percent of their shots from behind the arc (7-19) and cashed in 60 percent of their free throws (12-20). Freed-Hardeman also owned the boards, outrebounding Belhaven 45-29.

Belhaven will be back in action with the 2012-13 home opener on Tuesday night hosting LSU-Shreveport at 7:00 PM in Rugg Arena.