Led by the 3-point shooting of Kenny Nabors, the Lee men's basketball team out-scored visiting Bryan College 21-6 to open the second half and went on to score an 82-70 exhibition contest victory on Thursday night in Walker Arena.

The Flames trailed the Lions 37-31 at the end of the first stanza but were able to wipe that lead away when freshman Nabors came out smoking in the second half, nailing three straight 3-point shots and then drilling his fourth just a couple of minutes later. He finished the contest with 12 points, four rebounds and was 4-of-5 from behind the 3-point arc.

"Kenny hit some big shots for us in the second half to take the lead and extend it," said head coach Tommy Brown. "Rant (Rantavious Gilbert) was big on the defensive end as well. It's been a few years since we've had a legitimate shot blocker on the team. He is going to be key as we get into the Gulf South schedule."

However, it was a balanced-scoring attack and plenty of depth that helped the Flames overtake the hungry Lions. Eleven players contributed in the scoring column. The versatile Keevin Tyus, a junior transfer from Columbus State (Ga.) paced the Lee scoring with 15 points. He was 6-of-8 shooting from the field and also pulled down seven rebounds. Rantavous Gilbert, a 6-foot-8 transfer from Appalachian State, also helped spark the Lee second-half effort with 10 points, two blocked shots and four rebounds. He was a perfect 4-of-4 from the field.

CJ Reese, who played his high school basketball at McCallie, tallied nine points and dished off four assists. Elgrin Wilson and Levi Woods pitched in with eight points each. Woods was another player to help light the flame in the second 20. Jervon Johnson added seven to the winning margin and freshman Cam Boyd helped the Flames stay close in the first half by knocking down a pair of treys and finishing with six points.

"We really want to use these exhibition games to try and figure out our rotation," said Brown. "We were missing two starters tonight so we got to look at our full roster. I thought top to bottom everybody played pretty well. We want to be down to an eight to nine man rotation once the regular season starts but I was pleased we got so much production throughout our lineup tonight."

In the second half, the Flames shot an amazing 79 percent from the floor and finished the contest with a 60.4 shooting percentage. They made 6-of-17 treys (35 percent) and converted 18-of-25 free throws. They out-rebounded the Lions 39-33 but if there was a negative in the overall contest, it was 20 Lee turnovers to only eight for the visitors.

The Lions were led by the relentless Brandon Cole who finished with a double-double 22 points and 10 rebounds. Oteriah Lee, the Bryan point guard, added 16 points and Jeff Long rounded out the double-figure scoring with 11 points. Brice Cusick also had 10 boards in the loss.

"He (Cole) averaged 30 points a game last season, we knew he was going to be tough to stop," noted Brown.

Bryan shot 36 percent from the field and made only 7-of-32 3-point attempts (22 percent). They were awarded six free throws and converted five.

"I thought we did a nice job defensively tonight," added Brown. "We gave up a few too many offensive rebounds and allowed them second-chance opportunities but overall we were solid on that end of the floor."

The Flames will return to action on Saturday afternoon as a part of the annual Lee Homecoming. The Lady Flames will see their first action of the year in an exhibition contest against Maryville College at 12 noon. The men will follow with another exhibition battle, facing always tough Martin Methodist College. The tip-off is slated for 2:30 p.m.