With major playoff implications on the line the Lee men's basketball team answered the bell in knocking off Alabama Huntsville, 82-72 on Wednesday night in Walker Arena to inch closer to the program's first ever berth in the GSC Tournament.
The Flames weathered a quick start by the Chargers and pulled away late in the first half to take a 42-32 advantage into the locker room.
Lee staved off several comeback attempts from UAH in the second half and iced the game on a corner 3-ball from sophomore Ryan Montgomery to extend the lead to eight with just a minute remaining. The Chattanooga product finished with eight points and five rebounds.
Colton Blevins scored 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Flames in scoring for the second straight game.
"We had a great game plan that we learned during practice this week," said Blevins. "We knew what to expect from them offensively and did a nice job of moving the ball around on offense. I've been working inside trying to be better for my team and complete my game and I've been able to take some steps forward offensively the last few games. Our team personality is to come back and keep fighting and stay hungry and I think that has shown when we've needed to get a step up a get a win."
Parker Suedekum added 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting from the field and dished off four assists while Levi Woods added nine points and Chase Cullen tallied eight.
"I thought Parker did a great job of settling us down after we got off to a slow start tonight," said head coach Bubba Smith. Â "Overall I thought we had 10 guys that contributed. Every guy that stepped on the court gave us something and that is a tribute to the character and balance we have up and down the lineup.
The Chargers were led by Justin Ward's 21 points. Setih Swalve added 19 points and four assists while Kip Owens had 12 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
The Lee defense limited UAH to just 28 percent shooting from the 3-point line (7 of 25) and 47.3 percent shooting from the field.
"We defended the three really well and did a nice job of playing defense without fouling especially late in the game. In the end I just thought we wanted it more tonight and had tremendous effort and energy," added Smith
The Flames tallied 17 assists and committed just nine turnovers in the contest. Lee also got big production from its bench outscoring the UAH reserves, 27-7.
"You want to be playing your best basketball in February and into March and I think this team is starting to peak at the right time," concluded Smith.
The Flames finished the contest shooting 48.3 percent and had eight different players connect on a 3-point shot.
Lee moves to 14-11 on the year and 9-9 in the GSC. The Flames are currently in a three-way tie for sixth with North Alabama and Montevallo and will clinch a spot in the GSC Tournament for the first time in program history with a win or Alabama Huntsville loss over the final two games.
The loss has the Chargers on the outside looking in as they fall to 14-12 overall and 7-11 in league play.
Coach Smith and his guys will head to Delta State on Saturday at 5 p.m. before wrapping up the regular season on Thursday at Shorter.
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