Making key shots and defensive stops in the final 3.50 minutes, the Lee men's basketball team moved to within one game of an important eighth spot in the Gulf South Conference standings with a grinding 66-64 victory over the University of West Alabama on Thursday evening in Walker Arena.
The top eight finishers in the GSC standings earn a spot in the upcoming conference tournament. While the Flames were winning over the Tigers, Shorter University was falling to West Georgia. Lee's win and Shorter's defeat pushed the Flames into a tie for ninth place, both teams with a 6-12 league mark. West Alabama remains one game in front of the Flames but travels to Rome to face Shorter on Saturday.
Lee went on top of the visitors 62-58 on a bucket by Keevin Tyus at the 1:10 mark. The Tigers trimmed the lead to 62-60 with 1:02 remaining, but Levi Woods was fouled with 24 seconds remaining and nailed two key free throws to put the Flames up 64-60. However, the Tigers fought back with a 3-point bucket by Acie Vance to trim the lead to only one. Tyus and Woods added a free throw apiece to help seal the hard-earned victory.
Tyus scored 15 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. He also paced Lee in rebounding with eight. Woods followed with 11 markers and five boards, while Chase Cullen and Rantavious Gilbert gave Lee four players in double-digit scoring with 10 points apiece. Stephan Burrows found a way to score six points in the win. He came up with three assists and four rebounds. Gilbert continued to intimidate the opponents with four blocked shots and remained in a tie with Dakari Mayo of West Alabama for top shot-blocking honors in Division II. Mayo also had four blocks and both have 78 blocks on the year.
Vance paced the Tigers scoring with 16 points and Simeon Dennis finished with 14 points before leaving the game with five fouls. Lee's defense held the Tigers to only 38 percent shooting from the floor. However, the West Alabama squad did knock 7-of-18 treys and converted 11-of-14 free throws.
Lee's outstanding shooting continued with Tyus hitting 9-of-12 field goal attempts. The Flames shot 46 percent from the floor. They attempted only nine triples and made four, going to the line 18 times and sinking 12. The Tigers won the furious battle of the boards 37-35. Lee committed 11 floor mistakes and the Tigers nine in a clean but bruising battle.
"I was proud of the way our guys reacted against a very good West Alabama defense tonight," commented coach Tommy Brown as the Flames claimed their second straight home victory and have now won four and lost four over their last eight games. "Keevin was really good in the second half and Rantavious is showing a lot more patience. Our guys rebounded from their worst showing of the year at West Alabama to win tonight."
"We will face an entirely different style of basketball team on Saturday," added Brown. "West Georgia likes to get up and down the floor and score the basketball. We've had really good crowds in recent games and I hope we will have the same type of support on Saturday." The doubleheader which is being billed as "Ballin' in Love" will begin at 2 p.m.
