Box Score
Balance was the name of the game as the Lee men finished strong and defeated visiting Union University, 75-63 on Saturday afternoon in Gulf South action in Walker Arena.
Coach Tommy Brown admitted he was completely exhausted after another conference game that was contested the entire 40 minutes. However, the outcome was different in this home battle as the Flames surged down the stretch and improved to 8-11 on the year while picking up their fourth GSC victory against nine defeats. The Bulldogs, who posted a narrow victory over Lee earlier in the year, dropped to 10-10 overall and 6-8 against conference opponents.
"We changed up a few things on defense and that seemed to help down the stretch," said Brown. "We realize that you can't do the same thing over and over in this league because the coaching is simply too good."
The Flames did the job on both ends of the floor. Corey Billingsley, who made 8-of-11 shots, paced the Flames with 16 points. Brice Sharp turned in his finest effort as a Lee player by scoring 14 points, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. He also had seven rebounds and a pair of steals in 24 minutes of playing time.
Chad Lee joined the 3-point act. He converted 3-of-4 treys and was 2-of-2 from the line, finishing with 11 points. Tyquan Roberts had 11 points and paced the Flames with eight rebounds. Jamal Worthington completed the double-figure scoring with 10 points and seven rebounds. The Flames won the rebounding battle 39-36 and Valentino Thomas totaled eight points. Stedmon Ford finished with five points and three assists.
The Flames shot 47 percent from the field and outscored Union in points in the paint 38-30. Lee also had 19 points from bench players and Union only nine. The rugged battle was tied 10 times and had 14 lead changes.
The Bulldogs were led by Corieon Pearson who tallied 23 points. "We were able to slow him down late in the game and that was one of the keys to our victory," explained Brown.
AJ Roberts tossed in 12 points and paced the visitors with six rebounds, while Roy Bullock had 11 points and helped keep the Bulldogs in the game with five steals. Brown also noted that it was the second straight game that his Flames had held their opponent in the low 30's (34 percent) in field goal attempts.
The road gets tougher for the young Flames on Thursday and Saturday as they travel to Delta State to face the league-leading Statesmen and a very strong Christian Brothers team.
