Coach Tommy Brown continues to use most of his bench as he prepares for the upcoming regular season. The Lee men's basketball team pulled away from visiting Martin Methodist College midway of the first half and then turned back a challenge from the RedHawks in the final five minutes of the contest in posting a 71-60 Homecoming exhibition win on Saturday afternoon in Walker Arena.

Playing before a near full house, the Flames held a 39-31 advantage at the break and extended the margin to 22 points midway of the final half. The RedHawks would not retreat without a fight and cut the 22-point lead to only six points and forced a timeout by coach Brown with just over three minutes remaining. The Flames responded and quickly reclaimed the momentum in posting their second exhibition victory.

"The homecoming crowd is always special. I thought we did a nice job of extending the lead and I don't like the fact that we let them back in the game but we have some good things we can work on this week in practice to get better," said head coach Tommy Brown after the victory. "We did a much better job moving the ball in the first half than in the second half."
 
Balance stood out for the Flames. CJ Reese was able to beat his defender on several occasions and poured in 14 points. He also had four rebounds and four assists. Jervon Johnson also took his defender to the hoop and was 4-of-6 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in finishing with 13 points. He also garnered six rebounds. Elgrin Wilson continued to play inspired ball with 10 points and seven rebounds and Keevin Tyus followed with eight points and a team-leading nine rebounds. 

Rantavious Gilbert is quickly becoming a fan favorite. The 6-foot-8 post player had a slam dunk in posting his four points but his highlight included seven rebounds and six eye-catching blocked shots. Cody Farley added seven points and four rebounds to the winning margin. 

"Rant is a game changer," added Brown. "He had six blocks and affected a ton of shots today. He gives us a lot more margin for error with the way he can defend."

The Flames featured solid shooting in both halves and finished by shooting 48 percent from the field (28-of-59). However, the 3-pointers were not falling like they were in Tuesday night's exhibition against Bryan. The Flames attempted 15 and converted just two. They went to the free-throw line 17 times and canned 13. 

The Lee defense stole the show holding a frustrated Martin Methodist to just 26 percent shooting from the field. The RedHawks did heat up a bit from long range late in the second half and finished by making 8-of-29 treys for the game. Toderick Davis had 20 points in the loss while Darius Forrest and Dacoby Burnett carded 10 points apiece. 

The Flames dominated the boards out-rebounding the visitors 54-37. Burnett had seven rebounds for the losers and Oskar Reinfeld pulled down six.

"We've got a lot of ways to improve but I really like our team and where we are at right now. I think we've got some good pieces here," concluded Brown.

The Flames will move on to the real deal next Saturday and Sunday when they travel to Carrollton, Ga. and begin NCAA Division II play, facing Miles College on Saturday at 5:30 and battling Lane College on Sunday at 2 p.m. Both Miles and Lane are members of the SIAC Conference.