After jumping out to a big lead the Lee men's basketball team saw things slip away in the second half in falling to Freed-Hardeman, 67-66 on Tuesday evening from Walker Arena.

Down by one the Flames secured a rebound with eight seconds remaining but the Lions recovered on defense and forced an off-balance three at the horn that fell off the rim.

Lee held a 39-32 advantage at the break but the aggressive Lions got into the bonus with some 13 minutes remaining in the second half and converted all 17 fouls shots they took to hold on for the one-point win. For the game Freed-Hardeman hit 21 of 22 from the charity stripe overall.

Freshman Michael McGuirk delivered his best performance of his young career as he led the Flames with 21 points and connected on three triples. The Alabama sharpshooter also went to the line and connected on 8 of 9.

"I thought Michael was the only player who really attacked their zone tonight," said head coach Bubba Smith. "He's a very skilled shooter but he was really aggressive and attacked the defense which was big for us."

Chase Cullen was the only other Flame in double-figures as he finished with 12 points and four rebounds before fouling out of the contest late in the second half.

Playing without starters Ryan Montgomery and Colton Blevins the Flames lost the rebounding battle, 37-22. The Flames took 31 3-pointers against the Freed-Hardeman zone defense but converted just nine (29 percent). 

"I thought defensively we got lazy and settled for fouling instead of playing our normal aggressive style of defense. We sent them to the line and that caused us to get out of rhythm and rotation in the second half," said Smith. "I liked how we responded following the loss to Carson-Newman and I expect we will be ready to get back to work but we need to sit with this one for a day or two and then put it behind us and get back to work in practice on Friday."

Marcus Baldwin led the Lions with 24 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the 3-point line and 7 of 8 from the charity stripe. Simon Fransis followed with nine points and eight rebounds. With the win Freed-Hardeman improves to 2-5.

Lee falls to 6-2 on the year and will now break for finals before getting back to work next Tuesday as it welcomes Cumberland University to Walker Arena for an 8 p.m. tip.