Colton Blevins delivered 20 points and the Lee defense shut down Delta State to hand the Flames a 62-53 victory on Thursday evening inside Walker Arena.
Showcasing why they are both two of the top defensive teams in the Gulf South Conference the Flames and Statesmen exchanged blows for the much of the contest. DSU entered the contest allowing a league best 62.7 points per game while Lee is third surrendering 67.7.
Trailing 43-42 with just over eight minutes to play the Flames doubled up the Statesmen 20-10 to end the contest. After letting a few second half leads disappear early in the year Lee made sure this time would not follow suite thanks to several big defensive stops and key 3-point baskets from Blevins and Levi Woods.
Blevins finished 7 of 11 from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 from the free throw line to lead the Flames. Parker Suedekum dished off eight assists while Cody Jones chipped in eight points off the bench. Woods, Landman and Michael McGurik all tallied six points.
"Colton played really well tonight and made some big shots for us but I thought our guards also did a great job of distributing the basketball. We assisted on 19 of 23 field goals which is a fantastic number," said head coach Bubba Smith.
The stingy Lee defense allowed the Statesmen to shoot just 35.3 percent from the field (18 of 51) and yielded just one 3-pointer on the night.
The Flames connected on 23 of 49 (46.9 percent) from the field and 7 of 20 (35 percent) from the 3-point line. Lee also converted 9 of 11 from the charity stripe.
"Down the stretch we showed some maturity to close this thing out," acknowledged Smith. "We executed really well offensively and really buckled down and fought through screens to get big stops on defense."
The Flames won the battle on the glass, 29-27 and controlled the inside scoring with a 28-16 advantage on points in the paint.
Brett Warner paced Delta State with 20 points and five rebounds. Armon Benford added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
The win sends Lee to 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the GSC. The loss drops the Statesmen to 8-11 and 6-5 in league play.
The Flames will look to make it three straight conference victories on Saturday as they welcome Mississippi College to town for a 4 p.m.
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