CLINTON, Miss. – Life on the road has proved to be good for the Lee men's basketball team as it improved to a perfect 6-0 away from Walker Arena this season with a 74-64 win at Mississippi College on Thursday evening.
Colton Blevins led the way for the Flames with 21 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field. The big man also showcased his passing skills dishing off four assists. Blevins leads the Flames in scoring averaging 15 points and has eclipsed 20 points in three of his last four games.
Ryan Montgomery followed with 15 points connecting on 6 of 8 shots. Cody Jones hit a pair of second half triples and finished with 10 points and four assists.
"Colton and Ryan were extremely efficient for us on the offensive end and Cody hit some big shots for us and Parker (Suedekum) did a nice job of settling us down and getting us into good offensive sets in the second half," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "Overall it was total team effort. We challenged our guys to play with more emotional and excitement and I saw that tonight on the floor and in the huddle."
The efficient Flames shot a sizzling 60.9 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from the 3-point line. Lee had 22 assists but were guilty of 20 floor mistakes.
"We got some good bench production in the second half with some guys in foul trouble. Getting road wins are hard and I'm happy with the result but I was not pleased at all with how we finished the game. We were very sloppy late and if that's a close game we lose so we've got to clean that up," acknowledged Smith.
Brandon Boston led the Choctaws with 13 points and Dylan Taylor joined him double-figures with 11. Mississippi College went 42.6 percent from the field but struggled at the charity stripe converting just 13 of 21 (61.9 percent).
"We really worked on the defensive end. Last year Boston really hurt us and made a bunch of tough shots but tonight we were able to limit him and played tough defensive throughout."
The Flames controlled the glass out rebounding the Choctaws 32-22. The Choctaws were active defensively with 12 steals but turned 20 turnovers into just 16 points.
With the win Lee improves to 11-8 overall, 8-3 in the GSC and move into a four-way tie for first with Delta State, West Alabama and Christian Brothers. The loss drops the
Choctaws to 4-11 on the season and 1-9 in league play. The two teams will meet again just nine days from now as MC comes to Walker Arena for a 4 p.m. contest on Feb. 2.
The Flames will conclude the Magnolia State trip on Saturday as they do battle with Delta State at 5 p.m. The Statesmen fell to Alabama Huntsville on Thursday, 70-58.
"We've got a big challenge ahead of us with Delta. They are a physical team and we will need to be ready to go and play with effort and intensity from the opening tip," concluded Smith.
