VALDOSTA, Ga. - Host Valdosta State grabbed a 30-26 lead at the halftime break and then turned back several Lee comeback attempts in the final 20 minutes in posting a 75-70 Gulf South Conference victory over the Flames on Wednesday evening in the Complex.

"Valdosta is long, quick and physical," stressed Lee coach Tommy Brown after the loss dropped the Flames to 6-2 overall and 1-2 in the rugged GSC standings. "In the second half we tried to go one-on-four way too many times and my math tells me that usually doesn't work," added Brown. "When we were patient and ran our offense we got a lot of good looks and converted. In this league we are going to have to value every possession because of the size and strength of our opponents."

James Spencer, a senior from Chicago, Ill.,gave the Flames problems the entire evening. He nailed 10-of-12 shots overall and was 2-of-2 from behind the arc, finishing with 24 points and seven rebounds. Spencer stepped outside and knocked down a key trey  when the Flames had rallied to come within one point late in the contest. Jeff Nibo came off the bench and also hurt the Flames with a 15-point effort and guard Josh Lemons totaled 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.

The 3-point shooting of senior Chad Lee helped keep the Lee hopes alive. He converted 6-of-9 treys and finished the contest with 18 points and garnered six rebounds. Cory Billingsley picked up his game late in the contest and finished with 16 points and dished off five assists. Elgrin Wilson finished with 10 points and four rebounds. All of his points came in the first half.

"We didn't get the type of game we needed from Tyquan (Roberts) and Stedmon (Ford)," remarked Brown. "If they have their usual type of performance, we definitely would have had a better chance to beat a good Valdosta squad."

The Blazers made the best of 17 trips to the free-throw line, knocking down 15 freebies. On the other hand, Lee was only awarded five charity tosses the entire night and made three. The Flames shot a respectable 44 percent from the field (28-of-63) and shot an even better 48 percent from behind the arc (11-of-23).  They even won the rebounding battle 35-31 but turned the basketball over 17 times to 13 for the winner.

"Several of those turnovers were made simply because we were trying to take the ball to the goal against three or four defenders," pointed out the frustrated coach. "When three or four players are defending one of our players, someone has to be open. We didn't make that pass too many times."

Valdosta's biggest lead was by 10 points with 6:43 remaining but the Flames rallied back to cut the margin to just one point. Lee outscored VSU 32-30 in points in the paint, had a 19-16 margin in points off turnovers but a key factor was on fast-break opportunities where the Blazers outscored the Flames 14-0.

Lee will head for Pensacola, Fla. on Thursday and face West Florida on Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m.