A furious late comeback by the Lee men's basketball team came up short on Saturday afternoon in a rugged Gulf South Conference battle. The Flames dropped to 6-6 overall and 2-4 in conference play, while Valdosta State improved to 9-3 and 4-2.
 
The Flames were down by 15 points with just over four minutes remaining but cut the visiting Valdosta State lead to only four points (74-70) and had the basketball before finally missing a crucial shot. Lee was forced to foul Saadiq Muhammed who sank a pair of free throws to nail down the 76-72 Blazer victory.
 
The loss was the fourth straight by the Flames and the way they were beaten in the last two contests continues to frustrate first-year head coach Bubba Smith. "We have had two games in a row where we've had a three-point lead at halftime and we've come out flat and let the other team set the tone to start the second half," said coach Smith. "So we need to do a much better job coming out of the break and setting the tone and tempo early."
 
The Flames led 36-30 at the break after Isaac Merian nailed a 3-point shot just before the halftime buzzer sounded. The Flames shot 42 percent in the opening frame and held the Blazers to only 40 percent shooting. However, the second half was a different story as turnovers started to mount up. The Flames turned the basketball over 15 times in the contest and that led to 25 Valdosta points. The Blazers also outscored the Flames 14-0 in fast-break points.
 
 "I thought we looked tired tonight and we turned the ball over way too much, especially in the second half," said Smith. "In the first half we defended well and that showed on the scoreboard but we needed a more complete game."
 
Lee lost starting point-guard Rico Overall five minutes deep into the contest and that certainly hurt the backcourt play. However, Lee did outscore the visitors 46-21 in points off the bench but lost the battle in the paint 34-28.
 
Keevin Tyus paced the Lee scoring with 15 points and also was their top rebounder with six. Freshman Parker Suedekum came off the bench and did an excellent job in place of Overall. He finished with 14 points, 4-of-5 shooting from the field, 2-of-2 3-pointers and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe. Cody Jones tallied 10 points as did Merian. Ryan Montgomery chipped in with eight points and six rebounds.
 
The Blazers improved their shooting to 50 percent in the second half and 45 percent for the game. They were paced by Jeremiah Hill at 18 points and eight rebounds. Jimmy Kodet came off the bench to hurt Lee with three treys in the second half and tallied 11 points. Josh Lemons ran the point for the winners and tossed in 13 points to go along with his seven assists.
 
"We've shown flashes and proved we can match every team we've played in conference so far this season," pointed out Smith. "Every game we can win but we have to be better at handling the things we can control, like turnovers, in order to have success."
 
The Flames will return to action on Monday at 6 p.m. and will be hosting West Florida in another tough Gulf South battle. The women's action begins at 4 p.m. as both contests have been pushed up to allow fans to enjoy the National College Football Championship.