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A six-game home stand came to a sour end for the Lee men's basketball team as it fell 72-58 to King University on Monday evening from Walker Arena.

The Tornado baited the Flames into 19 turnovers with a persistent full-court trap while methodically limiting Lee possessions with late shot clock offense and just 10 floor mistakes.

Michael McGuirk led the way for the Flames with 18 points. Ryan Montgomery tallied a double-double with 17 points on 6 of 7 shooting and 12 rebounds. Colton Blevins added 10 points and six rebounds.

Kalen Clifton paced the Tornado offense with 15 points and was 3 of 4 from 3-point land.  James Brown (11), Tyre Moore Jr. (11) and Antonio Freeman were also in double-figures while Mike Saloman grabbed eight rebounds to go along with seven points.

Trailing by 11 the Flames went on a seven-point run to cut the lead to 30-26 with two minutes remaining in the first half. The run was jump started by a McGuirk triple and seemed to get Lee back in the contest before King responded with a 9-2 run of its own to end the half with a 39-28 advantage.

Both teams collected 39 rebounds in the contest. King led by as many as 16 early in the second half while the Flames enjoyed their only lead in the opening moments of the game.

Lee shot 40.4 percent (21 of 52) from the field overall but was just 1 of 19 from the 3-point line. King went 24 of 62 (38.7 percent) from the field and 8 of 18 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc.

"We have just not shot the basketball well over the last two games and because of that we've seen a lot of zone against us and we are going to continue to see that until we make some of those shots," said head coach Bubba Smith. We have guys that can make those shots and we are confident they are going to start to fall."

The loss drops Lee to 1-5 on the young season. The win moves the Tornado to 3-1.

"We're really close to putting it altogether. I thought we did a nice job of competing defensively tonight and most nights it would have been good enough to win," added Smith.

The Flames will look to get back on track as they head on the road for the first time this season and open up Gulf South Conference play at Auburn Montgomery on Thursday at 9 p.m. The road trip continues on Saturday with a visit to Rome, Ga. to challenge rival Shorter at 4 p.m.