PENSACOLA, Fla. - Clicking on all cylinders, the Lee men's basketball team bounced back from a heart-breaking loss to Christian Brothers on Saturday with their most impressive road victory since joining the Gulf South Conference.
Five Flames scored in double figures and coach Tommy Brown's club shot 61 percent from the field and 60 percent from 3-point range in crushing the University of West Florida on Thursday evening, 98-80.
"I'm really proud of the way our guys responded," said Brown. "We shared the basketball better than we have all year and I don't think we took a bad shot the entire game. West Florida does not have an impressive record but they have a lot of good athletes. Now, we just need to carry this momentum into the game with Valdosta State on Saturday."
Keevin Tyus, making a remarkable 11-of-13 shots from the floor and 3-of-3 free throws, paced the Lee scoring with 25 points. He also pulled down seven rebounds as Lee out-rebounded the host club 39-38. Chase Cullen battled foul problems but still managed 16 points and paced the Flames with eight rebounds.
Solid outside shooting by Levi Woods and Bryce Copeland made things extremely tough on the Argonauts' defense. Woods was 4-of-6 from back of the arc and tallied 14 marker to go along with three rebounds. Copeland turned in an outstanding floor game and canned three treys in totaling 13 points. Stephan Burrows continued his improved play with 11 points. He hit 4-of-5 shots from the field.
Lee led 47-42 at the break but the margin grew to 27 points with 2:42 remaining and gave coach Brown an opportunity to allow his reserves some playing time. Ten Flames put points on the board as Lee once again showed its depth. Copeland led the Lee squad in minutes played with 33 and Woods followed with 31, despite suffering with a stomach virus over the past couple of days.
Brown also liked his team's defense for the majority of the contest. The Argos were held to 40 percent shooting from the floor. The contest was clean on both ends with the Flames committing just 11 turnovers. "I can't believe they gave us just 11 assists," said Brown with a smile. West Florida committed just eight turnovers, but Lee out-scored the host club by a commanding 56-30 margin in points in the paint, despite Rantavious Gilbert staying in foul trouble most of the game and playing just 15 minutes.
Freshman Rashaan Benson paced West Florida with 14 points. Four of his teammates also scored in double-digits. Jelani Pruitt tallied 12 markers, while Austin Somerfield and Mario Stramaglia came away with 11 apiece. Somerfield was also the game's leading rebounder with nine.
The Flames will have one to prepare for Valdosta State. Saturday's GSC doubleheader begins with the women's action at 2 p.m. followed with the men's action at 4 p.m.
