Final Score: Tennessee State 64 – Belmont 79
Records: TSU (0-1, 0-1), BU (4-1, 1-0)
Arena: Curb Event Center
Location: Nashville, Tenn.
Attendance: 250
NASHVILLE --- Mark Freeman stepped on the court for year two and took to the rim. The sophomore point guard led the Tennessee State Tigers with 26 points in the 79-64 loss at Belmont Tuesday night in the Curb Event Center.
Freeman, the only Tiger to score double digits held down the offensive front for Big Blue while
Shakem Johnson,
Yusuf Mohamed and
Josh Linder took care of the boards. Four Bruins accumulated double-digit points, led by newcomer Luke Smith with 23 points, followed closely by Nick Muszynski with 21.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
- TSU Leaders
- Mark Freeman led the game with 26 points, marking a career high.
- The Tigers outscored its first-half efforts, 26-38.
- Tennessee State had 33 personal fouls, 22 in the second half, compared to Belmont's 19.
- Muszynski summed 22 total points, 16 of them made at the free-throw line where the center took 21 shots on the night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Bruins won jump ball and closed out the first possession of the game with a top-of the key three.
- Mark Freeman put in the first bucket for the Tigers.
- Belmont went up 12-2, leaving TSU scoreless for over six and a half minutes.
- Shakwon Barrett and Amorey Womack broke the scoring drought with their first points as Tigers.
- Shooting accuracy on both sides suffered with a noticeable increase in the pace of play. TSU was 0-6 from three-point distance.
- Monty Johal subbed in and made an immediate impact, helping TSU to close the gap to 10, 20-10.
- In the final play of the half, Barrett grabbed the offensive rebound to pass down low to Johnson for a slam dunk, 33-26.
- TSU's offensive efforts matched the Bruins in the first four minutes of action in the second period.
- Belmont began to pull away shooting an astounding 60 percent from the floor.
- At the second media timeout, Freeman recorded his first assist of the night with a dish to Barrett for a corner three.
- Freeman hit 20 points on the night, marking a career high.
- Thanks to Bruin turnovers, the Tigers capitalized on the error going on a 6-0 run,
- After falling 22 points behind, TSU exhausted its efforts to only be able to come within 11 for the final 10 minutes of action.
- Muszynski took to the line 18 times in the final 20 minutes of action, rounding out a 21 point game with 18 points in the second half.
- Belmont held the ball for the final possession of the night, winning its fourth game of the season, 79-64.
GAME NOTES
- With the win, Belmont extends its win streak to six and now leads the all-time series over the Tigers 23-13.
- Mark Freeman recorded a career-high 26 points, surpassing his previous 19-point performance versus Austin Peay last season.
- Three TSU players fouled out: Shakem Johnson (8:48), Yusuf Mohamed (7:49) and Mason Green (3:23).
UP NEXT
Tennessee State will return to action Saturday, Dec. 12 on the road at IUPUI. Tip in Indianapolis is set for 11 a.m. CT. on ESPN3.
