Box Score
Even the best of movie writers probably could not come up with a more exciting way for a basketball team to end a six-game losing streak. With Lee and West Georgia deadlocked at 80, junior Corey Billingsley sank a 23-foot shot with 0.6 seconds remaining to give the Flames a thrilling 83-80 victory over the visiting Wolves.
"It was the biggest shot of my college career," said Billingsley after the dramatic victory. "I made several big shots in high school but nothing that counted like this one." Billingsley admitted he told his teammates the ball was his after West Georgia's Deonta Stocks nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 80 with 6.1 seconds remaining.
Playing before the second largest crowd of the season in Walker Arena, the Flames gave the fans their money's worth and more. Lee led 33-30 at the half and built up what looked like a comfortable 13-point advantage early in the second 20 minutes.
Led by a brilliant 36-point performance from Stocks (30 points in the second half), the Wolves came fighting back and tied the contest at 72 with some three minutes remaining. The two clubs traded the lead over the next two minutes behind the play of West Georgia's Stocks and Lee's Jamal Worthington.
Senior Brice Sharp hit a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining to give Lee an 80-77 advantage. Stocks came right back and hit the key 3-pointer just before Billingsley touched off a king-sized celebration with his off-balance 3-point shot. He paced Lee's balanced scoring with 22 points and was 12-of-12 from the free-throw line.
Coach Tommy Brown had watched his team fight for around 32 minutes in six of their eight losses this season. "We didn't fold down the stretch this time," said the exhausted coach. "I've got to give our fans some of the credit for that. We had three freshmen on the floor for most of the second half and they are growing up. At this point in the season, I don't guess we could consider them freshmen any longer. They have been tested by a lot of good basketball teams."
One of the three freshmen, Worthington, posted a double-double and hits some of what coach Brown described as "amazing shots" in the second half surge. He finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds and dished off a couple of assists. Tyquan Roberts battled inside and posted 14 points to go along with his eight rebounds.
Another freshman, Stedmon Ford, followed with 11 points and was 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Overall, the Flames were solid from the line, converting 33-of-41 attempts (81 percent). The third freshman, Jervon Johnson, canned three treys and grabbed four rebounds in finishing with nine points. Sharp scored all seven of his points from the free-throw line. He also pulled down six rebounds as did Billingsley. The Flames won the battle of the boards 43-35.
While Stocks was carrying most of the scoring burden for the Wolves, Ryan Godfrey and Taylor Cochran had 12 points apiece. Phillip Flowers added nine points and eight rebounds in the loss.
The Flames (7-8 overall, 3-6 in the GSC) will try to build on the sweet victory when they host rival Shorter University on Saturday at 7 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the Flames and Hawks since both switched to NCAA Division II and joined the Gulf South Conference.
