JACKSON, Miss. – The Lee University Flames began the 2013 portion of the schedule just how they finished 2012, with another win. Lee improved its record to 13-0 (5-0 SSAC) with a 77-62 defeat of host Belhaven University.

The third-ranked Flames will continue their tour of Mississippi on Saturday afternoon with a showdown against No. 10 William Carey University. Lee and William Carey are two of the three teams that remain unbeaten in conference play.
Will Barnes scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Flames. Duran Blue added 14 points, seven boards and four assists.

Chase Dunn and Jamorris Gaines made it four Lee players to hit double-digits in scoring. Dunn had 13 points and three assists, Gaines contributed 10 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots in his Lee debut.

Chad Lee finished shy of a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. Steve Bennett finished with nine points and six rebounds in less than 12 minutes of playing time.

The Flames shot 45 percent (24-of-53) from the floor and held Belhaven (6-10, 3-2 SSAC) to 34 percent (21-of-61).  Belhaven forced 22 Lee turnovers and were guilty of 17 floor mistakes of their own.

“We looked like ‘Space Jam,’ where the aliens took all of the players’ talents away,” said Lee head coach Tommy Brown.
Lee held a slight 22-19 advantage in made free throws and made good on 7-of-20 three-point attempts, while Belhaven missed 14-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc.

“We didn’t really move our legs on defense, they just missed the shots,” added Brown.

Jonathan Ratliff made the Blazers’ lone three-pointer to finish with 11 points and seven rebounds.

“(Curt) Hall played so hard,” said Brown. “He was a warrior. We were fortunate (Jordan) Butts picked up his third foul early after being hit with a technical foul.”

Hall, Butts and Datodrick Pinkston each tallied 15 points in the loss. Butts added eight boards, while Pinkston came down with six rebounds and dished out four assists.