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A second half surge from visiting Delta State ended the season for the Lee men's basketball team as it fell to the Statesmen, 68-58 in the Gulf South Conference Quarterfinals from Walker Arena.

The Flames held the Statesmen scoreless for the first seven minutes of the contest in opening up a 10-0 advantage to bring a fired up crowd to its feet.

Delta State climbed back in to the defensive battle however and kept within shouting distance with a few late buckets to trim the lead to 30-22 at the intermission. The final basket of the half by Delta's Armon Benford was originally waved off by officials as a shot-clock violation but was overturned during the break.

The second half saw the Statesmen catch fire connecting on 15 of 23 from the field (65.2 percent) and a perfect 5 of 5 from the 3-point line as they pulled away late in the contest to end a historic season for the Flames.

Coach Bubba Smith's club qualified for the GSC Tournament as the No. 4 seed for the first time in school history despite being picked to finish 10^th in the preseason rankings. Lee finishes the year at 16-12 overall, a five-win improvement on last season's mark.

"It was a little bit of a tail of two halves but they were the better team tonight," admitted Smith. "Give credit to them they made some big shots in the second half, often times with hands in their face, and we weren't able to counter with good execution on the other end late in the game and that really hurt us."

Senior Chase Cullen made the most of his last appearance in Walker Arena as he ended with a team-high 22 points and was a perfect 12 of 12 from the free-throw line. Fifth-year senior Bryce Copeland added nine points and grabbed four rebounds on 4 of 5 shooting from the field.  Colton Blevins and Ryan Montgomery each pitched in eight points in the contest.

Delta State got timely buckets from Brett Warner (24 points) and Matthew Wilson (19 points) to end the game on a 17-8 run. The two combined to connect on 5 of 9 from beyond the arc, all coming in the second half.  Benford added 14 points and swiped five steals to aide in the victory.

Lee shot 43.8 percent from field but failed to make a 3-point basket in the game. The Flames committed 18 turnovers in the contest which turned into 21 points for the Statesmen. Lee forced 11 floor mistakes and cashed those in for 12 points.

"This is a special group of seniors and they left a mark on our program and I believe this season has truly been be a turning point season for Lee men's basketball," said head coach Bubba Smith. "They showed tremendous leadership all season and I can't thank them enough for all their hard work and dedication. I've coached teams that have won more but this team is the one of the best teams I've ever coached with the way they work and cheer on their teammates and play unselfishly and that's a tribute to (senior) Levi (Woods), Bryce, Chase and Issac (Merian)."