BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The University of Alabama at Huntsville outscored the Lee men's basketball team 41-22 in the second half and eliminated the Flames from GSC Championship play with a 72-63 victory on Saturday evening in the Pete Hannah Center.
The Flames will now wait for the NCAA D2 to release their pairings for South Region play on Sunday evening. After dropping to 22-7 overall Lee is hoping to be one of the eight teams selected for region play that is scheduled to get underway next weekend at Florida Southern.
The Flames led 41-31 at the end of the first half. Quay Kennedy was outstanding, scoring 15 of his 18 points overall. Kennedy made 7 of 14 shots from the floor, 4 of 7 treys and led the Flames in rebounding with six. Parker Suedekum followed with 14 points, five assists, canned 6 of 10 shots from the field and nailed a pair of 3-pointers. Ryan Montgomery finished with 12 points and Beyuan Hendricks came off the bench to give the Flames a spark with 12 points and knocking down 3 of 4 triples.
"It was a game of runs tonight and we just didn't do a very good job of responding to their run in the second half," said Lee head coach Bubba Smith. "They got us off balance offensively in the second half. I'm proud of our guys though, we lost a lot of close games last year and we won those games this year. One game dosen't define what we've accomplished and I think the body of work has put us in a good spot to keep playing and appear in the NCAA Tourney for the first time in program history."
Alabama Huntsville was led by JJ Kaplan who had 23 points and seven rebounds. Sam Orf followed with 18 points and eight rebounds. Seth Swalve added 16 markers and Malik Cook-Stoupe rounded out the double-digit scoring with 11. The Chargers out-rebounded Lee 29-24. The Flames committed 18 floor mistakes to only 13 for UAH.
The Chargers turned Lee floor mistakes into 24 points. Points in the paint were dead even at 28 but the Chargers had 12 fast-break points to just four for the Flames. Lee out scored UAH in points off the bench 15-0. After shooting over 65% from the field in the first half, Lee shot just 30% in the second stanza.
It was a complete turn-around for the Chargers. They managed to shoot 46% from the floor in the first half but came back with 60% shooting in the second half. They also marched to the free-throw line 15 times and converted 13 in the final 20 minutes.
