If college basketball was played in quarters like the high school and professional games, it might be easier for some to describe the SSAC battle between Lee and visiting Southern Wesleyan University on Thursday evening.
One could say that SWU won the first quarter and the Flames claimed the second. The third period was commanded by the host team, but the Warriors lived up to their name and almost pulled off a major upset with a fourth stanza comeback.
Lee improved to 23-1 overall and 12-1 in SSAC play with a spin-tingling 85-83 win. The victory sets up an SSAC showdown on Saturday (7 p.m.) when the second-ranked Flames host ninth-ranked Emmanuel College (22-2, 11-1).
Southern Wesleyan led by as much as 11 points in the first half, but when the Warriors post players, Kenny Joyner and Nikola Lambic went to the bench with foul problems; the Flames rallied and held a slim 35-31 margin at the half. Will Barnes and Jamorris tallied 21 of Lee's 35 points in the first 20 minutes.
With 7:58 remaining in the heated contest, the Flames rode the shooting of Gaines and Chad Lee to a 16-point advantage. But SWU was not about to go away without a fight and actually took a wild 3-point shot that could have won the game, and then got one final desperation shot at the 1.9-second mark after Lee missed a free throw
Coach Tommy Brown was not pleased with his club's overall effort, and said way too much attention was paid to the upcoming game with Emmanuel instead of focusing on Southern Wesleyan. "We came out flat," he commented immediately after the win. "Then we played well for a while and then let-up. Right now I don't think our maturity level is high enough to beat Emmanuel. They play hard and follow instructions. Our energy level will have to change or we'll get beat by 30 on Saturday."
Brown said he was not taking anything away from Southern Wesleyan. "They gave a great effort and said they wanted to play us again. We had changes to put them away and did not. Their big guys played well and they made some big shots to get back in the game and we helped them with turnovers."
Turnovers helped the Warriors made a serious run in the final seven minutes. After Lee turned the ball over only three times in the first half, it committed 13 overall and many came in the late furious SWU run. The rebounding battle was even at 36 apiece. The field goal percentage was almost the same, .485 for Lee and .484 for Southern Wesleyan. Nine 3-points in 19 attempts helped the winning cause. The Warriors made only 6-of-19.
At the same time, Lee, one of the nation's best free throw shooting team, made just 16 of 25. SWU knocked down 13 of 17. The Flames used depth to claim a huge advantage, outscoring the Warriors 41-10 in points off the bench. However, SWU had a slim 46-42 lead in points in the paint.
Gaines hit 4-of-6 treys and paced the Lee scoring with 23 points. Barnes followed with 22 markers. Steve Bennett added 14 points and five rebounds. Chad Lee connected on 2-of-3 shots from behind the arc and had 10 points and four boards. Corey Billingsley added eight points, four rebounds and three assists. Duran Blue dished off six assists and scored five points.
SWU got 25 points and eight rebounds from Joyner. Lambic followed with 21 and nine. Guard Kenny Holmes canned four treys and totaled 16 points, plus adding six assists, while Alex Percival rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11.
