JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – The Lee men's basketball team gave NCAA D1 East Tennessee State a scare but came up just short in its upset bid, falling to the Bucs, 62-53 on Saturday afternoon.
The Flames took a 49-48 lead on a Quay Kennedy free throw with 5:09 remaining but would not make a field goal the rest of the way as the ETSU defense stiffened and limited the Flames to just four free throws over the last five minutes.
The Bucs responded quickly as Smith Jr. canned a triple to re-gain the lead with 4:47 left and never looked back in closing on a 14-4 run to end it.
"I'm proud of our guys tonight and the growth we showed," said Lee men's basketball coach Bubba Smith. "We talked all week about growing in our defensive effort, effecting shots, and communication. We took some big steps in those areas. You want to give yourself a chance with four to go and we did that."
Kennedy, a preseason All-GSC selection, led the Flames with 14 points and seven boards. Beyuan Hendricks added 11 points, four rebounds and four assists while Jayce Willingham and Michael McGuirk each chipped in 10 points to give Lee four players in double-figures.
Both teams left points on the board at the foul line. Lee converted just 10 of 21 (48 percent) from the charity stripe while the Bucs cashed in on 14 of 23 (61 percent). The Flames did improve from their opening game in 3-point shooting as they hit 7 of 18 (39 percent). The Bucs hit only four triples but were efficient inside scoring 24 points in the paint.
The Flames trailed by five at 33-28 at halftime. Lee struggled with ETSU's pressure in the second half committing 12 of its 19 total turnovers in the final 20 minutes. The Flames turned the Bucs over 12 times and won the rebouding battle, 41-35.
"A lot of the areas we need to clean up and fine tune are a result of a group of guys that haven't played a lot of minutes together," noted Smith.
Demari Monsanto led ETSU with 11 points. Vonnie Patterson pitched in 10 while Ladarrius Brewer had nine and eight rebounds.
The two teams scheduled the game on Thursday after Lee's regularly scheduled GSC home opener against Valdosta State was postponed. Lee has now lost its last two D1 games by a combined 11 points. The Flames fell 62-60 back in 2018 against another Southern Conference opponent, UT-Chattanooga.
Coach Smith's club will take a week off for Christmas and then gear up to return to GSC play. Lee will play its home opener on Saturday, Jan. 2 against Montevallo at 6 p.m.
