CLEVELAND, Miss. – Despite 29 points from Ryan Montgomery the Lee men's basketball team suffered its first home loss of the season on Saturday afternoon, losing at Delta State, 70-56.
The Flames had won their first six road contests of the 2019 season prior to falling to the Statesmen.
Montgomery was the lone offensive bright spot on day when the smothering Delta defense limited Lee to just 19 of 50 shooting from the field and 5 of 18 from behind the arc. The Chattanooga native went 10 of 17, hitting 2 of 4 3-pointers and 7 of 9 from the free throw line. He also grabbed seven rebounds.
Colton Blevins followed with nine points but only played 20 minutes before fouling out. Cody Jones connected on two triples for his six points but he too fouled out seeing only 19 minutes of game action. Parker Suedekum dished off eight assists in the contest for Lee.
"Obviously getting into foul trouble hurt our rotation and not having Colton and Cody out there in their usual spots made things difficult offensively," said Smith. "We were not very efficient offensively in the first half and dug ourselves a hole but credit Delta State they are a tough-minded defensive team and they make you earn everything you get," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith.
The Statesmen held Lee to just five made field goals and 18 points in the first half and held a 25-18 advantage at the intermission. Both teams opened things up a bit in the second half with DSU outscoring the Flames, 45-38.
Matthew Wilson led the way for the Statesmen with 21 points, 15 coming from 3-point land where he went 5 of 6. Rasheide Bell followed with 14 and seven rebounds while Justin Slocum joined them in double-figures with 11. Armon Benford grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds and had eight points in the winning effort.
The loss drops the Flames to 8-4 in the Gulf South Conference and 4-4 in their last eight league contests. Lee sits at 11-9 overall. Delta State rebounds from a home loss on Thursday to Alabama Huntsville with the win and improves to 9-3 and in tie for first in the conference standings with West Alabama. The Mississippi Club is 13-6 overall.
All totaled eight men's teams are within two games of first in the loss column and seven teams have four or fewer losses with just eight games remaining.
Lee will get a couple extra days to regroup as they well not play until next Saturday when they welcome Mississippi College to Walker Arena for a 4 p.m. tip off. After the home date with the Choctaws coach Smith's club heads back on the road to visit Montevallo and West Alabama.
