VALDOSTA, Ga. - Valdosta State senior Blake Justice went to the free-throw line four times, making all four, in the last 30 seconds and allowing the Blazers to post a 74-70 Gulf South Conference victory over the Lee men on Saturday afternoon in the Complex. 

The Flames trailed by 11 points at the 5:59 mark but battled back to cut the lead to only two points on two occasions in the final minutes. However, the Blazers responded by making the freebies and improved to 12-8 overall and 8-7 in the GSC race. The Flames suffering another tough loss slipped to 6-14 and 5-10 in league play.

"It was a long and tough road trip," said coach Tommy Brown. "We didn't have a lot of legs left after the West Florida game on Thursday and then having to make the long trip from Pensacola to Valdosta on Friday."

The lack of legs were apparent when the Flames on target in recent games, were able to hit only 2-of-14 shots from behind the arc. "The majority of those shots were good looks and kept falling short," noted Brown. "If we make a few of those attempts, it might have been a different story."

Another key in the loss came in the final second of the first half when Jacob Obande nailed a 3-pointer to give the Blazers a 41-35 advantage at the break. Lee could never get over the hump despite shooting 48 percent overall and holding the Blazers to 41 percent.

Keevin Tyus paced the Lee scoring with 17 points. Stephan Burrows, who played one of his most complete games of the year, finished with 12 markers. Chase Cullen battled foul problems and tallied 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. The balance continued with Levi Woods scoring 11 points and Rico Overall finishing with 10 points. Cullen and Tyus led the rebounding with seven apiece.

The Blazers got a double-double from Justin Simon, who finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Chris Longoria had 19 points and nine rebounds, while Justice, who wrapped up the game with 6-of-6 from the line, totaled 12 points.

The Flames committed 12 turnovers to only six for the Blazers. Valdosta out-rebounded Lee 42-37.

The Flames will return home on Thursday evening and face Alabama-Huntsville, the number one team in the GSC standings. The doubleheader begins at 6 p.m. with the Lady Flames trying to hold on to third place in the conference standings.