CLINTON, Miss. – For the second time in a week the Lee men's basketball team knocked off Mississippi College with a 68-54 victory on Thursday evening in the Magnolia State.
Last Thursday in Walker Arena the Flames withstood a late rally by the Choctaws to claim a 70-64 win. Tonight's contest was never in serious doubt as Lee held the advantage for all but two minutes of the contest.
Senior Ryan Montgomery went to work for 10 points in the first half and finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 boards. Quay Kennedy led all scorers with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting from the field. Montgomery leads the GSC in scoring averaging 19.9 per game.
Lee held a 29-26 advantage at the intermission thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by freshman Beyuan Hendricks. The second half belonged to the Flames as they fired out of the locker room with a 13-2 run over the first six minutes to effectively put the game away.
Hendricks finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists while Parker Suedekum pitched in six points.
"I'm proud of our guys tonight. It's hard playing a team twice in one week and to be able to come away with a road win is even better," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "I thought defensively we had a great start to the second half and we started creating easier scoring opportunities on the offensive end.
Coach Smith's club finished hitting 49.1 percent from the field after catching fire going 7 of 13 (53 percent) from beyond the arc in the second half. The Lee defense allowed the Choctaws to convert just 34 percent from the field and just 29 percent from the 3-point line.
"We were really aggressive and trying to make some plays early in the game that ended up as turnovers. I thought we showed a little more patience in the second half while staying aggressive as we got deeper in the possession," added Smith.
Lee held a 35-30 advantage on the glass and committed 19 turnovers but made just eight floor mistakes in the second half. The Choctaws turned the ball over 17 times in the game.
Jacob Taylor and Winford Ross tallied 13 points each for the home team. Taylor added seven boards while Ross pulled down six. Zach Jones finished with nine points and six rebounds.
The Flames move to 16-4 and are now 14-1 over their last 15 games. Lee also maintains its half-game lead over Valdosta State in the GSC with an 11-2 mark. The loss drops the Choctaws to 7-12 and 3-10 int league play.
"It will be nice to give our guys a couple days off this weekend and get ready for a big week coming up," concluded Smith.
The Flames will get a rare Saturday off before opening their final regular season home stand on Thursday against Montevallo. Opening tip is set for 8 p.m.
