It wasn't always pretty on Thursday evening but in the end the Lee men's basketball team improved to a perfect 10-0 at home with a 66-58 victory over the Montevallo Falcons in Walker Arena.
The Flames fell behind early 20-11 over the first 10 minutes of the game with shots tough to come by before closing the half on a 23-11 run to take a 34-31 advantage into the halftime break.
The defensive intensity showed up in the second half as Lee forced 15 turnovers and ballooned the lead to 14 with 8:50 remaining. The Falcons hung around but never threatened over the final nine minutes of the contest. Both teams struggled to take care of the basketball combining for 25 turnovers (Lee 22, Montevallo 23).
Senior Parker Suedekum led the balanced scoring attack for Lee with 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting. The point guard also dished out five assists. Freshman Beuyan Hendricks, celebrating his 19
th birthday on Thursday, scored 12 points while Kentrell Evans added 11 and five helpers and Quay Kennedy posted 10 points.
The Falcons held the GSC's second leading scorer, Ryan Montgomery to just two points. The senior forward is averaging 19.9 points per game but was limited to just one bucket and played only 22 minutes due to foul trouble.
"I think winning a game like this where Ryan was being doubled all game and got into foul trouble just shows how much talent we have on this team and our depth," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "You win in this league with good guard play and I thought all of guards played fantastic tonight on both ends of the floor to help us pull out this victory."
The Falcons shot 47.7 percent from the field but were limited to just 21.4 percent (3 of 14) from the 3-point line. The Alabama club also struggled from the foul line converting just 65 percent (13 of 20).
Montevallo has now lost its last six contests and falls to 11-10 and 7-6 in the GSC. Wade Lowman led the Falcons with a game-high 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting from the field. Xavier Malcom played the full forty minutes and finished with nine points, six rebounds and three assists.
Lee shot 52.1 percent from the field and 77 percent (10 of 13) from the foul line. The Flames hit six triples but attempted 22, good for 27 percent on the night.
The Flames have now won 16 of 17 games and improve to 17-4 overall and 12-2 in in conference play. Lee will get a chance to avenge one of those conference setbacks on Saturday as it welcomes West Alabama to town for a 7 p.m. tip. The Tigers defeated Alabama Huntsville, 75-54 and are 17-5 overall and 10-4 in league play.
"We are looking forward to Saturday," said Smith. "West Alabama is a very talented team and the last two times we've played them we've gone to overtime with them pulling it out in the end. It should be a great basketball game."
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