DAHLONEGA, Ga. – Playing short-handed without leading scorer Ryan Montgomery the Lee men's basketball team put together a gutsy performance in posting a 77-64 road victory over North Georgia on Wednesday afternoon.
The Flames got a huge boost from senior point guard Parker Suedekum who tallied a game-high 21 points on 4 of 6 shooting from beyond the arc and sophomore Quay Kennedy who poured in 17 and grabbed seven boards. Suedekum also dished off five assists, his season average.
Kentrell Evans registered 11 and Josh Lowe added 10 to give the Flames four-players in double-figures. As a team Lee connected on 7 of 15 (46 percent) from deep and 30 of 57 from the field (52 percent). Down both Montgomery and Michael McGuirk Lee used just seven players and had all five starters play 30-plus minutes.
The Nighthawks got off to a quick 11-6 advantage at the first media timeout before Suedekum started heating up to help the Flames settle in and move out to a 34-25 edge with 6:06 remaining in the opening half. After a 10-2 North Georgia run made it a 1-point game the Flames closed the half on a 14-3 run to take a 50-38 lead into the half that they would never relinquish.
"I thought our guys showed a lot of fight today. I'm proud of how we competed and found a way to win on the road, especially in the second half," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "Defensively our guys did a great job on their personnel and our attention to detail was key in our defensive effort."
The Nighthawks were paced by 11 points from Zach Brown and 10 from Carrod Watson. The home team connected on 10 of 21 (47 percent) from 3-point land but shot only 40 percent from the field.
Lee pressured the Nighthawks into 20 turnovers led by three steals from Kennedy while limiting its own floor mistakes to just 14. The Flames turned the North Georgia mistakes into 21 points.
"I thought Parker and Quay were really good early on both ends and Duke (Kentrell Evans) gave them (North Georgia) some issues by getting deep in the paint," noted Smith. "I was probably more proud of our second half in that we didn't hit shots but were able to get consistent stops." The Flames were held scoreless over the final 4:21 of the contest but allowed just two late free throws to the Nighthawks to keep a double-digit advantage througout.
The Flames improve to 4-3 on the year and will get back to work on Saturday as they return home to square off with Martin Methodist at 4 p.m. North Georgia falls to 4-3.
The game featured the unusual mid-week start time of noon due to "Middle School" day at North Georgia as hundreds of students from the Dahlonega area got to take a break from class to catch some basketball action.
