MAYFIELD, Ky. - After suffering a setback on Thursday night, the Mid-Continent University men's basketball team returned to their winning ways on Saturday afternoon, but it was not as easy as it might have looked to be on paper. The Cougars (14-7, 2-1) had to come-from-behind to take the win from a very scrappy Freed-Hardeman University (9-13, 0-3) bunch, playing without several key players lost for the year including defending TranSouth Player of the Year Kyle Teichmann. Thanks to some stifling defense down the stretch, the Cougars took the win 78-73.

Mid-Continent got off to a fast start. After Freed-Hardeman scored the first basket of the game, Lee Ames erupted for 11 points in the next 3 minutes, as Mid-Continent connected on five of their first seven 3-point attempts, as the Cougars built an early 23-9 lead. The Lions, however, would chip away and get back in the game. Freed-Hardeman used a 12-2 run late in the first half to trim an 11-point deficit to a single tally at 31-30. The Cougars twice got the lead back to three, but with his team trailing by a single point, DeBrell McLemore knocked in a 3-pointer at the first half buzzer to give Freed-Hardeman a 37-35 halftime advantage. Ames Knocked down another 3-pointer on the Cougars first possession of the second frame to put Mid-Continent back on top 38-37, but from there Freed-Hardeman bounced back, taking a lead they would hold for much of the second half. The Cougars' deficit would reach as many as six points on three different occasions, the last coming at 59-53 with 10:54 to play. It was then that Mid-Continent put together a 10-0 spurt, claiming a 4-point lead 63-59 with 7:41 left to go. Mid-Continent would hold the lead until the 4:46 mark, when FHU's Isaiah Harrison tied the game at the foul line, then Reginald Gilmore put the Lions up with a lay-up 69-67. Freed-Hardeman built their lead with two free throws from Harrison just 40 seconds later, but again, the Cougars stepped up with a 10-0 run to claim a lead they would not relinquish en route to the 78-73 win.

Gavin Scott led five Cougars in double-figures, scoring 16 points and tying for the team lead with eight rebounds with Charles Peden. Ames poured in 14 points, while Peden, Antonio Davis, and Larry Thompkins II scored 13 each in the win. 11 of Thompkins' 13 points came in the games final seven minutes. Reggie Elkins narrowly missed making it six in double-figures, scoring nine in the game. As a team, Mid-Continent connected on 23-of-49 (46.9%) shots, including 8-of-19 (42.1%) from deep, and 24-of-32 (75%) from the foul line.

Mid-Continent will continue their 2013 TranSouth schedule on Thursday night at Life University (11-9, 3-2). The game is scheduled to tip-off at 6 p.m.