Thanks to a dominating second half the Lee men's basketball team fired past Piedmont College, 83-50 in front of a capacity crowd at Walker Arena for Lee's Centennial Homecoming game.

Junior Colton Blevins led the Flames with 14 while junior Ryan Montgomery added 13 points in 20 minutes of action and freshman Drew Jones came off the bench to put in 12.

After a slow start, that saw the Flames fall behind 6-0 and force coach Bubba Smith to call an early timeout, Lee regained its footing and held a 33-29 advantage at the intermission. The second half was all Flames as they limited the Lions to just 21 points while scoring 50 of their own.

"In a lot of ways it was a tale of two halves today," said Smith. "We were pretty flat to the start the game and I really challenged our starting five to pick up the energy and they responded in the second half along with some really good play off our bench. Defensively we really settled in in the first 10 minutes of the second half and that helped us break open a close game."

The balanced Flames scoring attack featured 42 points off the bench with big production from Drew Jones (12), Duke Evans (9) and Leander Ridgeway Jr. (9)

Lee held a dominating 47-26 advantage on the glass with sophomore Michael McGuirk leading the club with eight rebounds. Sophomore Leander Ridgeway Jr. and junior guard Parker Sueduekum also had five rebounds.

Michael Joseph led Piedmont (NCAA D3) with 11 points while Miles Riley added 10 and four rebounds.

The swarming Lee defense limited the Lions to just 33.9 percent shooting for the contest and just 9 of 30 from the field in the second half. The Flames hit 49 percent from the field and were 6 of 23 (26.1 percent) from behind the arc.

"I think this team embodies what we are as a program. They are unselfish, share the basketball, work hard, play for one another and play tough so we feel like this has a chance to be a special group," noted Smith.

During a first half media timeout the Lee Athletic Department inducted Lee President Dr. Paul Conn into the Hall of Fame for his distinguished service and impact on athletics during his 33 years of leadership. Dr. Conn started 15 of the 18 sports Lee currently participates in, has overseen the construction or renovation of each athletic facility and led the transition from the NAIA to the NCAA in 2012.

After two impressive exhibition contests, a close 62-60 loss at UTC on Thursday and a homecoming drubbing of Piedmont, The Flames will open up regular season play on Friday night at 8 p.m. in Walker Arena against Embry-Riddle. Lee will come right back and square off with Palm Beach Atlantic on Saturday at 4 p.m.