<br /><br />FLORENCE, Ala. - Paced by the inside play of Calvin Dade (23 points, 8 rebounds) and the solid shooting of Nathan Spehr (21 points), the University of North Alabama Lions grabbed an early lead and never looked back in posting a 77-67 victory over the Lee men in a Gulf South Conference contest on Saturday afternoon.<br /><br />"They are a big and strong team and we didn't have any answers for them this afternoon," noted coach Tommy Brown after his Flames dropped to 11-11 overall and 6-11 in GSC play. The Lions looked much better than an 11-12 team but claimed big conference wins over Shorter and Lee this weekend to improve to 8-9 in league play. "They grabbed every 50-50 rebound and actually jerked the ball out of our hands on some occasions. This team looks more like they have a couple of inside linebackers on their team rather than post players."<br /><br />The Lions led 48-27 at the break and increased the margin to 17 points with 10:42 remaining in the second half. The Flames were hampered again at the charity stripe. The Lions made 21-of-26 and Lee was awarded only 10 free throws the entire game but did convert nine.<br /><br />"That's been the story on most every road game," commented Brown. "I'm not looking for excuses, but are we really fouling that much? I was only able to use Chad Lee 14 minutes because he picked up two fouls in less than two minutes, then right out of halftime he picked up a quick third foul. When that happens, it limits us on both the offensive and defensive ends. He does a lot of things for our basketball team that does not appear in the scorebook."<br /><br />For the game, the Flames shot a respectable 42 percent from the field, making 26-of-62 field goal attempts. However, they struggled from behind the arc, hitting just 6-of-18. The Flames lost the rebounding battle 38-36 but North Alabama pulled down 11 offensive boards. Lee turned the basketball over 12 times and North Alabama was credited 13 floor mistakes.<br /><br />Cory Billingsley was by far the best for the Flames on this afternoon. He finished with 20 points, hitting 7-of-12 shots from the field, 3-of-5 3-pointers and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the line. He also paced Lee with nine rebounds. After missing two games with injuries, Tyquan Roberts returned to score 10 points and grab five boards, while Stedmon Ford and Chase Cullen countered with 12 points each. Cullen also had six rebounds.<br /><br />"Overall, we played fairly well, but give North Alabama credit, they were the better team today and looks like a team that could win the conference tournament again," said coach Brown. "It's tough for every team to win on the road in this league. There are so many well-balanced teams."<br /><br />The season does not get any easier for the Flames this coming week as they continue their road assignments at West Alabama on Thursday and then challenge league-leading West Georgia next Saturday in Carrollton.