Paced by a solid defense and improved shooting in the second half, the Lee men pulled away from visiting Truett-McConnell College and went on to post their third straight victory of the early basketball campaign, 62-48.
The Flames trailed in the early going but managed to gain a 27-25 advantage at the halftime break. Coach Tommy Brown's team shot only 37 percent in the opening 20 minutes but blistered the net at a 55 percent clip (12-of-22) from the field in the second half.
"We did a much better job of getting the ball inside in the second half," commented Brown after his team improved to 3-0. "We knew Truett-McConnell would play us tough. They have a new coach and he's doing a good job. We also did not have a lot of time to prepare for this contest after playing in West Georgia on Friday and Saturday."
The Flames used a balanced attack and got excellent play from several players off the bench. Tyquan Roberts paced the scoring attack with 17 points. He also had a team-leading seven rebounds.
Stedmon Ford directed the Lee offense and drew praise from coach Brown. The point guard scored 13 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished off six assists. He committed only one turnover in 33 minutes of playing time and also came up with three key steals.
Elgrin Wilson came off the bench to counter with seven points and helped Chad Lee defend against the Bear scoring attack down low. In fact, Brown also noted that Chad Lee played one of his better games, although he didn't score a single point.
Jervon Johnson also was solid in the Lee win. He hit a key 3-pointer and tallied five points. The Bears held Lee's leading scorer Cory Billingsley to only six points. "We are not going to win a lot of games when Cory scores only six points but I think he was still a little tired from the weekend. He played a lot of minutes in those two wins," said Brown.
J'Quayveon Williams posted a double-double for Truett-McConnell. He finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds. The Flames held him to only five points in the second half. Andretti Loyd countered with nine points for the losers.
The Bears shot only 35 percent for the game but out-rebounded the Flames 34-27. The Lee defense forced TMC into 20 floor mistakes while committing only 12.
Lee returns to action on Thursday at 8 p.m. and will host long-time rival Tennessee Temple University.
