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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Lee played one of the best men's basketball teams in the Gulf South Conference right down to the wire before dropping a 92-86 contest to host Alabama Huntsville on Saturday afternoon before a near capacity crowd.
 
Coach Bubba Smith said he was extremely proud of his team's effort. "I thought we competed as well as we have competed all season here this afternoon but Huntsville is a very good basketball team and made some big plays throughout the game."
 
The Flames dropped behind by 10 points with 7:21 remaining but refused to fold. They cut the margin down to two points before an unusual call hurt the Flames badly. With the Chargers at the free throw line shooting a one-plus-one situation, apparently one of the officials and maybe the Flames thought it was a two-shot opportunity.  The missed free throw rolled out of bounds and after a conversation with the coaches and the referees it was ruled a jump ball, giving the Chargers the basketball. The inbounds pass came in to Brandon Roberts who nailed a 3-point bucket and increased the lead back to five points.
 
The Flames tried to rally back but the Chargers were almost perfect from the charity stripe, making 27-of-31 attempts. They also nailed 15-of-30 3-pointers and shot 25-of-51 from the field (49 percent).
 
Lee stayed in the contest behind the determined play of Keevin Tyus who had 26 points and five rebounds. Rico Overall finished with 20 points and turned in one of his better efforts in recent weeks. Overall had to leave the game in the final minutes with an injury. "I might have brought Rico back in the game in the final five or six minutes but I felt like his injury turned into a liability on the defensive end," said coach Smith.
 
Jervon Johnson and Cody Farley paced the Flames in double-figure points (10), while Johnson led the team with eight rebounds and Farley finished with seven. Overall, Lee out-rebounded the Chargers 36-28 but while UAH were making their free throws, Lee converted just 11-of-17 from the charity stripe.
 
The Flames shot a solid 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3-point range. Both teams did an excellent job of taking care of the basketball. Lee had 10 turnovers and the Chargers eight.
 
UAH was paced by senior Seab Webster with 26 points. He converted 5-of-10 triples and was 5-of-7 from the line, going to the glass to grab 10 rebounds in his double-double. Roberts finished with 19. Chase Elliott came off the bench to hit 8-of-9 freebies and finished with 17 points as did Justin Ward who gave his club a lift with three treys and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
 
"I'm proud of these guys. We needed four or five stops but just couldn't get them down the stretch," said Smith. "Again we came out really flat at the beginning of the second half and that really cost us, but we woke up and played well the rest of the second half."
 
The Flames will get a few days to regroup and heal their wounds before continuing the road adventures at Delta State on Thursday. The Senators allowed Huntsville to move back into a tie for first place in the rugged GSC race by upsetting Valdosta State on Saturday afternoon.