VALDOSTA, Ga. – Facing one of the hottest teams in the country the Lee men's basketball team came up short in falling to No. 12 Valdosta State, 81-70 on Saturday evening.

The Blazers opened up on an 8-0 run to start the second half and led 46-34 with 17:27 remaining but the Flames weathered the storm and climbed back into the contest with a 14-4 run of their own to close within in two at 50-48 with 14 minutes remaining.

Lee would not be able to draw any closer however as the Blazers kept at least a five-point lead the rest of the way home to win their 14^th straight game.

Michael McGuirk sparked Lee off the bench with a career high 23 points. The freshman was 7 of 14 from the field and canned 4 of 7 3-pointers. Ryan Montgomery joined McGuirk in double-figures as he tallied 13 points and hauled in six rebounds.

Parker Suedekum added nine points for the Flames while Chase Cullen put in eight, six coming in the first three minutes and Colton Blevins registered six points before fouling out late in the contest.

Beau Justice led the Blazers with 22 points as he was 6 of 10 from the field and 7 of 9 from the foul line. KJ James followed with a double-double performance of 14 points and 12 rebounds. Jimmy Kodet also turned in a double-double effort with 12 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Overall the Blazers held a 39-32 advantage on the glass.

Valdosta State did most of their damage from the foul line. The Blazers marched to the line 39 times and connect on 27 while the Flames were awarded just 13 freebies and hit 11.

"We knew we needed a special effort to beat this team on the road and even though we competed hard we didn't play very smart," said head coach Bubba Smith. "We fouled way too much tonight and sent them to the line over 30 times. Every time I felt like we answered and had some good execution we would follow that up with a bad foul because we were off balance on defense and that's a big area where we need to improve as a team as we head down this home stretch."

Lee shot 41.3 percent from the field in the contest (26 of 63) but hit just 7 of 24 (29.2 percent) from beyond the arc. The Blazers finished the night hitting 47 percent from the floor but were 10 of 20 overall and 4 of 10 from 3-point distance in the second half.

The loss drops Lee to 12-10 on the year and 7-8 in the GSC. The Flames currently hold the eighth and final spot for the GSC Tournament with five games remaining.

The Blazers are now a perfect 12-0 at home this season and improve to 21-2 overall and 13-1 in the GSC. They are two games clear of West Florida in the chase for the No. 1 seed in the GSC Tournament.

The Flames will return home for the first time since Jan. 20 as they host Union University on Thursday at 8 p.m. Lee will tangle with Christian Brothers on Saturday at 4 p.m. before wrapping up the home portion of the regular season Wednesday (Feb. 14) at 8 p.m. against Alabama Huntsville.